United Bank for Africa Plc has announced that all its African subsidiaries are now on firm footing as they have been contributing maximally to the group’s profit margin.
Specifically, the bank’s African operations have contributed close to 50% of the group’s earnings, leveraging on digital offerings and products across the board to gain large market shares across the different regions of operations in Africa.
The Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA Africa, Abiola Bawuah, who made this disclosure while addressing press men and journalists from across Africa during a hybrid media parley on Thursday, noted that notwithstanding the impact of devaluations and double-digit inflation in Nigeria and a number of other African countries where the bank operates, the subsidiaries have been performing well, contributing significantly to the growth and development of trade, infrastructure and finance on the continent.
She said, “As of last month, none of our African subsidiaries is making a loss. They have all been turning in profits, this is a testament to the fact that they have navigated successfully and have all found their footing.
Early this year, Bawuah, a Ghanaian national, was appointed as the first female CEO of UBA Africa, an appointment that further demonstrated the bank’s commitment to diversity. The group board now includes eight female Directors.
Bawuah also emphasised the necessity of government regulation in the private sector due to its current challenges.
Bawuah voiced her concerns about the current state of the private sector at the Africa Day/ UBA Conversations event, held in Lagos recently.
She said, “We need the government to regulate the private sector because the sector is struggling. However, the private sector needs to be strong, and that is where UBA comes in. There have been numerous facility programmes we have come up with for consumers in the corporate sector like the Small and Medium Enterprises, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises that are being supported by us.
“It is only in UBA that I know of that you can be an MSME, and once you are faithful to us and you have run the enterprise very well, we are ready to support you, even when you do not have collateral.
“However, Africa must develop the private sector, and when you talk of the private sector, 60 per cent of the private sector in Africa are either SMEs or MSMEs, which would not be able to be developed by the foreign banks, because what they classify as SMEs monetarily is high, and most SMEs in Africa are far below that range.”
Meanwhile, the CEO noted that the company was set to deepen the promotion of trade in Africa, through technology.
In the same vein, the Group Marketing Head, UBA, Alero Ladipo, said technology is the primary platform trade could be pushed.
