The managing director of Unity Bank Plc, Tomi Somefun hzs disclosed that the commercial bank is focused on its quest to recapitalise despite significant disruptions in the business environment in the country.
The chief executive said the lender will continue to do business in the fast-growing markets in Nigeria despite the economic headwinds such as the naira devaluation which has really hampered gains.
Somefun spoke on the back of the release of the commercial bank’s half year unaudited financial statement to the Nigerian Exchange, NGX. The bank has grown its deposit to N333.38 billion from N327.42 billion, the lender said in the report.
Commenting Somefun noted that the significant disruptions which characterized the operating environment has impacted the positions of the Bank to the extent that we have constraints in income generation on the back of revaluation of the bank’s net foreign liabilities occasioned by the Naira devaluation during the period.
She said: “In the light of the prevailing FX revaluation in the financial system, what we have is a market-driven impact which is adjustable envisaged from the positive economic outcomes of the government policies in the near term.
” Be that as it may, the negative shareholders’ fund has improved considerably through the injection of N135billion which moderated the negative shareholders’ fund from (-ve) N275Billion in December 2022 financial year-end to (-ve) N178Billion as at the end of June 2023, after absorbing the FX revaluation loss suffered in Q2/2023. We are however, focused with clear-cut plans to close out on our recapitalization programme very soon to enable us do business as expected in the fast-growing markets in Nigeria”
She stated further, “We remain optimistic that the government’s policy initiatives will lead to cause correction in the market, the Bank has accelerated measures to ramp up asset creation and liability generation in the short and medium term.
“The Bank is aggressively driving its retail growth in every segment of the market, expanding strategic partnerships; and growing commercial banking business to develop new and sustainable income lines for the Bank as well as pay sufficient attention to fast-paced process automation, cost and resource efficiency, targeted value chain relationships, and product marketing to enhance value creation in the market.”
The growth in deposits demonstrates incremental gains by the lender from its commitment to deepening its retail footprint through a well-diversified banking product suites that caters to different segments of the retail market,
Other highlights of the unaudited financial statement include gross income and total assets which recorded N27.5 billion as against N27.4 billion and N512.1 billion from N510.1 billion respectively within the period under review. The net loans portfolio reduced significantly by 31% to N198.6Billion as at 30 June 2023 from N289.4Billion as at 31st December 2022.
The bank’s NPL Ratio remained moderate at below three percent while liquidity ratio stood strong at over 45 percent.
Its profit for the period was impacted by foreign exchange revaluation on the back of Nigeria’s recent FX liberalization policy, resulting in a slide in our position.
The retail lender grew its FX trading income significantly by 17 percent to N239.8 million from N204.4 million in the corresponding period of 2022, underscoring the Bank’s strategic focus on diversifying and growing its earnings portfolio.
Similarly, fees and income commission also witnessed a 10 perecent growth to N3.5 billion from N3.2 billion compared to the corresponding period of 2022, on the strength of the growing popularity of its digital banking platforms and customers’ acquisition in the retail space
Notwithstanding the market shocks currently being experienced, the Bank is still on course given the resilience it has demonstrated over time, according to keen analysts in the financial market.
