Union Bank has said its gross loans rose by 22 per cent to N899.1bn as of the end of 2021, from N736.7bn in December 2020.

The bank said in a release on its audited financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2021 that it was expanding its lending to key economic sectors of opportunity.

Commenting on the results, the Chief Executive Officer, Emeka Okonkwo, said, “Following an enhancement to our operating and go-to-market model to deliver better performance and efficiency leveraging our network across the regions, we are increasing our customer engagement and product penetration which is translating into higher customer revenues across geographies.

“On the back of this, the bank has continued to record headline growth by diversifying our income streams and accelerating our recoveries programme.”

For the full year, he said, its gross earnings grew by 8.9 per cent from N161bn to N175bn, while its net operating income after impairments dropped by 3.6 per cent to N99.7bn from N103.4bn.

Interest income grew by one per cent as its earnings asset base expanded with a growing loan book, he said.

Okonkwo said, “We continued our strong growth in non-interest income through a combination of aggressive recoveries, which grew 119 per cent in the period, from N7.2bn to N15.9bn and further growth in fee and commission income (33 per cent) and e-business (26 per cent).

“These were delivered on the back of sustained multi-channel growth in users, volume and value across our digital and agent channels. Total active UnionMobile users now stand at 3.3 million, up 20 per cent while our Union360 customer base grew by 22 per cent to 26,400.”

In 2022, he said, the bank would continue to focus on broadening and deepening the strong foundations it had built, while enhancing its digital delivery platforms and service propositions to customers.

He said, “We remain deeply thankful to our erstwhile core investors, Union Global Partners and Atlas Mara, who have been instrumental in our journey since 2012.