The Chief Financial Officer of leading financial giant, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Ugochukwu Nwaghodoh has revealed that having posted a convincing results last year, the bank projects 50 per cent profit contributions by subsidiaries across its operations in 18 other African countries.

He said reforms and innovative management being deployed by the bank will push up earnings over the next three years.

Bloomberg reports that the bank injected more than $100 million into its units in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Mozambique to help them expand. The cash, pumped into the operations over July and August, will start having a “full effect” on income from this year, Nwaghodoh said.

UBA expects contributions from its foreign branches to increase from 45 percent last year even as the operations in its home market continue to grow, he said. Nigeria’s third-largest lender by revenue raised $500 million selling Eurobonds last year to fund its expansion as the economy of Africa’s biggest oil producer recovered from a 2016 contraction after a slump in crude prices triggered a foreign-currency shortage.

It is targeting an improvement in its return on equity, a measure of profit, to 18 percent this year from 16 percent in 2017, the CFO said. UBA will “defend” its net interest margin in Nigeria amid declining interest rates by reducing what it pays depositors for their savings, Nwaghodoh said.