The bank’s share price value also hit N29.90 per share.

Its market capitalisation stood at N1,022,562,698,843, at the close of trading on Monday, making to the third most capitalised financial institution in Nigeria.  Its market capitalisation stood at N283.8 billion at the beginning of the 2023.

The bank has 34,199,421,366 shares in issue and the shares are being named as the highest performing stock in the banking sector in 2023, demonstrating the bank’s robust growth trajectory and unwavering market confidence.

The 2023 financial year was a splendid one for UBA. The bank was not only becoming the most profitable bank in Nigeria in 2023, but its shareholders’ fund  rose from N992 billion as at full year 2022 to N1.8 trillion as of September 2023.

Specifically, between the start of January 2023 and today, the price of UBA shares has appreciated by over 250 per cent from N7.60 per share.

Chairman, UBA Group, Tony Elumelu, said that the bank’s remarkable journey in 2023 culminated with its shares being acclaimed as the highest performing stock within the banking sector, as he pointed out that this not only highlights the bank’s strategic prowess but also reflects its commitment to delivering unparalleled value to shareholders and stakeholders alike.

“As UBA celebrates these significant milestones, we will like all our stakeholders to know that we remain steadfast in our mission to drive sustainable growth, foster innovation, and create value for its diverse clientele across Africa,” Elumelu said.

“We are witnessing the impact of the business transformation drive UBA embarked on years ago and executed well. Naturally, the market has taken note of and is duly rewarding our efforts. To our stakeholders, our promise is that we will continue to work harder, deliver on what we know how to do well and create impacts across geographies where we currently operate,” he further stated.

UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, who expressed delight at the bank’s performance in the past few months, said with its unwavering commitment to excellence and execution, the bank continues to set benchmarks in the banking sector, reinforcing its position as Africa’s global bank of choice.

“Market participants have begun to appreciate the latent capacity in UBA’s business model as the bank unlocks enormous potentials in its pan African and international operations. Its unique competitive advantage lies in people, processes, and technology.

With Operations and offices in 24 countries and on four continents, UBA is the only African bank with deposit-taking license in the USA. The Bank’s fundamentals remain strong with impressive financial results that have continued to deliver sustainable value for its shareholders.

At current price, UBA trades at price-to-earning (P/E) and price-to-book (P/B) multiples of 2.27 and 0.59 which are a reflection of the market’s expectations of the Bank’s future growth potentials,” Alawuba said

UBA is listed on the Premium Board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in recognition of the Bank’s strong adherence to international best practices on corporate governance and remains committed to creating value for its over 275,000 esteemed shareholders spread across the globe.

UBA was also appointed as the Local Arranger and Local Depository Bank for the $3.3 billion FX Liquidity support facility for Nigeria in partnership with Africa Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank), providing solutions to economic solutions in Nigeria characterized by shortage of Fx liquidity.

Likewise, in 2023, UBA won the 2023 FMDQ Gold Awards in three Categories including the Best FX Liquidity Provider; Dealing Institution of the Year and Best Money Market Liquidity Provider. This recognition is a testament to UBA’s impressive capital strength.

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On the back of this and in line with our focus of driving further improvement in revenue generation and profitability, the Group delivered strong growth in gross earnings and profit before tax resulting in N656.6 billion and N206.3 billion respectively, for the first half of 2023 financial year.

Group Managing Director, Nnamdi Okonkwo, while commenting on the results stated that: “FBN Holdings has continued to deliver a strong financial performance despite the complex operating environment, thanks to our reinforced foundations, deep market understanding, strong risk management and execution capabilities.

“Across our businesses, we continue to focus on customer-centric innovations with strong transactional and digital capabilities supported by sound risk management practises to anticipate and creatively deliver products and services that delight the different customer segments that we serve. Furthermore, we are committed to leveraging technology via digital platforms to enhance operational efficiency”.

Although the current operating environment remains challenging, we are confident of successfully navigating the terrain in our transformation journey to deliver sustainable value to our stakeholders.”

Commercial Banking (FirstBank) achieved gross earnings of N607.7 billion, up 82.4 per cent y-o-y as against N333.2 billion recorded in June 2022.  Net   interest income stood at N232.6 billion, up 52.1 per cent  y-o-y compared to N152.9 billion recorded in June last year.

FirstBank Profit before tax stood at N188.8 billion, up 214.6 per cent y-o-y  as against N60.0 billion recorded in June while Profit after tax stood at N174.9 billion, up 228.3 per cent y-o-y (Jun 2022: N53.3 billion). Also, total assets stood at N13.6 trillion, up 34.8 per cent year-to-date  as against N10.1 trillion in same period of last year.

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank (Commercial Banking Group), Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, said:

“In the first half of 2023, FirstBank Group delivered the strongest financial performance in the almost 130 years of the Bank’s history; with solid business momentum, increased revenue, and excellent returns. The result reflects the continued positive impact of our strategy and the tremendous progress that we have made in growing and transforming the Group. The result also highlights the resilience of our business model, customer relationships and institutional capabilities.

While the uncertainties in the macroeconomic and operating environment persist, I am confident that our purpose-driven strategy remains the right one and that our strong financial performance, alongside our business model and resilient portfolios, position the Group well to continue to provide the required support to our customers as well as create robust and sustainable value to our shareholders.

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The performance represents 47.5 per cent growth from N183.9 billion recorded in same period of 2022.

The bank also achieved  remarkable growth across all its major income lines including 38.2 billion surge in  Profit Before Tax to N61.4 billion within the period.

The PBT position represents 38.2 per cent rise from N44.5 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

Also, its Profit After Tax (PAT) jumped from N41.5 billion to N53.6 billion, representing an impressive 29.1 per cent increase. The bank’s result which was released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), showed that Interest Income which stood at N125.9 billion as at March 2022, grew by 53.4 per cent to N191.9 billion in the quarter under consideration.

The results further revealed that Operating Income rose by 39.6 percent to N175.7 billion, as against N125.9 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022.

Commenting on the result, UBA’s Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, explained that despite the high inflationary, and challenging global environment, UBA was able to leverage the uptick in interest rates and improved digital offerings, in growing funded and non-funded income.

He added that he is particularly excited at the growth in PBT, which has helped to drive increased returns to shareholders, with a 22.6 per cent Return on Average Equity (ROAE) compared to 19.7 per cent recorded in December 2022.

“We have continued to record improved gains in our customer acquisition and retention strategies across our countries of presence, evident in the 10.5 per cent growth in customer deposits to N8.6 trillion from N7.8 trillion at the end of 2022 financial year.”

“This has enabled the Group drive increased loan growth and interest income, with loans to customers at N3.6 trillion, representing a year-to-date(YTD) increase of five per cent. For 2023, we remain committed to improving the Group’s performance as we strategically position our entities to take advantage of emerging developments within their jurisdictions and across the globe. We will continue to deliver excellent rewards to our stakeholders,” Alawuba said.

Also speaking on the performance, UBA’s Executive Director, Finance and Risk, Ugo Nwaghodoh, said that the performance demonstrates the group’s resilience and commitment towards delivering value and enhancing the confidence of its customers, stakeholders and the wider public notwithstanding the competitive landscape and current global trend in the industry.

“The impressive performance of UBA Group in first quarter 2023 is hinged on its continuous improvement and growth in gross earnings and balance sheet size as gross earnings grew by 47.5 per cent year-on-year to N271.2billion and total assets up by 4.6 per cent to N11.4 trillion from N10.9 trillion as at December 2022, ” Nwaghodoh stated.

Continuing, he said, “The growth in gross earnings is on the strength of increase in both interest income and non-interest income while growth in total asset is attributable to increased deposits due to aggressive deposit mobilization drive that resulted in a 10.5  per cent growth in customer deposit in the first quarter.”

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than thirty million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 24 countries and across four continents.

With presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France and recently the United Arab Emirates, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking services.

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The instruments comes under  the N25 b billion Commercial Paper Programme approved by FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited last June. The company lauded the market for the support and confidence reposed in its brand and operations.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lekki Gardens, Dr. Richard Nyong, while speaking on the successful CP redemption said expressed gratitude to the market for the support.

He said : “We are happy to have fully redeemed and repaid all subscribers to our first Commercial Paper issuance. This redemption is another testament to the strength and resilience of our business despite the very challenging operating environment”.

He explained that the past year was characterised by major headwinds which included the sustained increases in construction material prices, unprecedented rise in energy costs, further weakening of the local currency, rising inflation and interest rates among other factors. But we continue to take all necessary measures to remain focused and adaptable to sustain the brand’s consistent growth and performance over the years.”

The company’s debut into the local Debt Capital Market was in 2021 when it raised N3.5 billion in 3-year tenured Private Notes under the Private Corporate Bond (PCB) window of the FMDQ. The company has to date successfully met all coupon payments in line with the terms of the notes.

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The performance represents 25 per cent growth from N765.6 billion reported in the same period of 2021.

In a statement, the bank said it recorded the outstanding performance in the last financial year despite persistent challenging macroeconomic environment and headwinds within the domestic economy.

The audited financial results for the 2022 financial year, presented to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), showed that  the double-digit growth in gross earnings was driven by a 26 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in interest income from N427.6 billion to N540.2 billion.

The 23 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in non-interest income from N309 billion to N381 billion also contributed to the output.

Its profit before tax also grew by two per cent from N280.4 billion to N284.7 billion in the current year. The increase in profit before tax was due to the significant growth in all the income lines.

Impairments grew by 107 per cent from N59.9 billion to N124.2 billion, while interest expense grew 63 per cent YoY from N106.8 billion to N173.5 billion, respectively.

The impairment growth, which also resulted in an increase in the cost of risk (from 1.9 per cent in 2021 to 3.3 per cent in the current year), was due to the impact of Ghana’s sovereign debt restructuring programme. The growth in interest expense increased the cost of funds from 1.5 per cent in 2021 to 1.9 per cent in 2022 due to hikes in interest rates globally.

Customer deposits increased by 39 per cent, growing from N6.47 trillion in the previous year to N8.98 trillion in the current year. The growth in customer deposits came from all products and deposit segments (corporate and retail), thus consolidating the bank’s market leadership and indicating customers’ trust.

The continued elevated yield environment positively impacted the bank’s Net-Interest-Margin (NIM), which grew from 6.7 per cent to 7.2 per cent due to an effective repricing of interest-bearing assets. Operating expenses grew by 17 per cent YoY, but growth remains below the inflation rate. Total assets increased by 30 per cent, growing from N9.45 trillion in 2021 to N12.29 trillion, mainly driven by growth in customer deposits.

With the steady and continued recovery in economic activities, the Group prudently grew its gross loans by 20 per cent, from N3.5 trillion in 2021 to N4.1 trillion in 2022, which increased the Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio modestly from 4.2 per cent to 4.3 per cent YoY. The capital adequacy ratio decreased from 21 per cent to 19 per cent, while the liquidity ratio improved from 71.2 per cent to 75 per cent. Both prudential ratios are well above regulatory thresholds.

In 2023, the Group intends to expand its frontiers as it also reorganises into a holding company structure, adding new verticals to its businesses and growing in all its chosen markets, both locally and internationally.

As a testament to its commitment to shareholders, the bank has announced a proposed final dividend payout of N2.90 per share, bringing the total dividend to N3.20 per share.

In recognition of its track record of excellent performances, Zenith Bank was recognised as the Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital, for the 13th consecutive year, in the 2022 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine; Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2020 and 2022; Best Bank in Nigeria, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards.

The bank was also awarded the Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria 2021 and 2022 in the World Finance Banking Awards; Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria in the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2022; Best in Corporate Governance’ Financial Services’ Africa, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, by the Ethical Boardroom; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria and Best Innovation In Retail Banking, Nigeria in the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards.

Also, the bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021, and Retail Bank of the year, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, at the BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.

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The 180-day-tenor Series 10 and 268-day-tenor Series 11 were both issued on the 18th of January 2023 with maturity dates of July and October 2023, respectively.  

Group CEO, of DLM Capital Group, Sonnie Babatunde Ayere,  noted “We are thrilled with the overwhelming investor demand and confidence for this financing. This issue will significantly bolster the company’s treasury and has provided a solid foundation for DLM to grow by making funds available to our domestic companies in a variety of sectors and consumers seeking everyday loans.

As always transparency is key so, we also look forward to updating investors on our progress in the coming months.”

Founded in 2009, DLM Capital Group has expanded from its initial investment banking forte to include trusteeship, securities sales and trading, asset management, foreign exchange sales and trading, corporate lending, nominees, and digital banking.

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In a report, the leading global management consulting firm, said much of the assets will be  front-loaded over the next few years as more investments flow into climate-transition projects.

It said revenue from alternative assets such as private equity, hedge funds, and real estate assets will grow to more than half of the global revenue in the next five years.

This is according to report 20th edition of BCG’s annual study of the assets industry titled  Global Asset Management 2022: From Tailwinds to Turbulence, emerging trends that are expected to shape the future include an increasing shift of portfolios into alternative assets in the pursuit of higher returns compared to publicly-traded markets.

Alternative products represented more than 40 per cent of total asset management revenue in 2021, despite comprising less than 20 per cent of global Asset under Management. This trend is expected to continue over the next five years, with revenue from alternatives forecast to grow to more than half of all global revenues in the industry by 2026.

“Over the next five years, we expect the revenue from alternatives to grow to more than half of all global revenues, thanks in large part to the fees that alternative assets command,” the report stated.

Moreover, with $100 trillion to $150 trillion in capital deployment required to reach net-zero goals by 2050, demand for sustainable investments represents an opportunity that will dominate the sector in both the short and long term. 

Partner and Managing Director in BCG Nigeria, ​Stefano Niavas, said, “Africa’s economy continues to be attractive to private capital investors who are seeking huge returns and Nigeria tops the list of countries that had remarkable private capital inflow in 2021. A larger share of these funds was invested into venture capital assets followed by infrastructure and then private equity. About 145 Venture Capital deals were reported in Nigeria in 2021, with a total value of $1.1 billion, according to African Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (AVCA).

“This is a wake-up call to assets fund managers to take advantage of this trend and position themselves for an early win in this dynamic asset management industry as alternative products promise better performance.”

New technologies such as direct indexing are putting the core value proposition of asset managers at risk of disintermediation by simplifying the manufacturing and packaging process—which enables new participants to enter the market and build personalized products that they can take directly to their clients. This is especially the case for wealth managers, leading to a growing convergence between the asset- and wealth-management industries, which are both beginning to chase the same asset pools. 

The asset management industry continued its unprecedented growth trajectory in 2021, with global assets under management (AuM) rising by 12 per cent to $112 trillion, significantly above the 20-year growth average of seven per cent.

Strong performance in equity markets has been the key driver, representing 90 per cent of revenue growth between 2005 and 2021. During the same period, revenues from net flows have been largely offset by investors shifting their asset-class mix toward lower-priced products and by ongoing fee pressure. Yet despite rising costs, operating profit margin rose to a healthy 38 per cent in 2021, up from 36 per cent a year earlier, as average AuM growth outpaced the increase in costs. 

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