Union Bank Nigeria Plc (UBN) in its unaudited financial statements for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019, has made a five per cent increase in its Profit before tax.
In its financial statement submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), on Wednesday, the bank reported a profit before tax of N15.6 billion for the period, having increased from N14.9 billion of the previous year.
Gross earnings, however, went down by four per cent to N117.2 billion from N122.2 billion of the previous year due to a decrease in average earning assets.
Interest income also went down by two per cent to N90 billion for the third quarter when compared with N91.5 billion recorded in Q3:2018.
Customer deposits increased by four per cent to N892.9 billion reflecting the bank’s continuing acquisition of low-cost deposits driven by strengthened brand affinity
Commenting on the results, Emeka Emuwa, CEO said “Our continued focus on consumer-centric service and product propositions is yielding solid results, contributing to a 28 per cent growth in our electronic channels fee income which is at N5.6 billion for the period. Our debt recovery drive continues to record successes with N8.4 billion of recoveries year to date.
In line with our stated business objectives, we are continuing to grow our asset book by creating quality risk assets in targeted sectors. This has led to a nine per cent growth in our loan portfolio to N566.5 billion compared to N519.7 billion at year-end 2018.
Going into the rest of the year, our ambition remains to deliver superior customer experience across all customer touchpoints.”
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Speaking on the third-quarter result, Chief Financial Officer, Joe Mbulu said: “While we had a slight decline in Gross Earnings for the Group from N122.2 billion to N117.2 billion in 2018, our efficiency initiatives, including the deployment of Robotic Process Automation as well as our cost optimization programme, ensured we delivered four per cent growth in Profit After Tax (PAT), recording N15.2 billion compared to N14.7 billion in the prior-year period.
“Our operating expenses reduced by three per cent to N56.2 billion from N58 billion in 9M 2018 and the Bank’s customer-related non-interest revenue drivers remained strong with net fee and commission income growing 10 per cent to N9.5 billion from N8.7 billion for the corresponding period in 2018.
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