Why UBA Congo, Tchad, Gabon, Senegal emerged Best Banks’ of the Year—Uzoka
The group managing director/chief executive officer, UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, has revealed more insights on why his bank raked in national laurels as Best Bank of the Year in Congo, Tchad, Gabon and Senegal at the Bankers Award in London last week.
While stressing that the feat further reinforces the strong franchise of the Group across its chosen markets in Africa, Uzoka said “These awards mark another milestone for UBA Group and is a testament of the diligent execution of the bank’s strategic initiatives on customer service. Being recognized as Africa’s best bank complements positive feedback from customers and is a recognition of our improving efficiencies, service quality and innovation. I therefore dedicate it to our growing loyal corporate and retail customers, who are our essence. Given our heritage commitment to Africa’s development, we continue to impact lives through our service as well as funding to individuals, businesses and government.”
Continuing , he said “The bank remains focused on its goal of democratizing banking in Africa, leveraging on new technologies and our rich pool of talent. It is satisfying that our efforts towards leadership are yielding great results. We continue to gain market share across our chosen markets, as we deepen financial inclusion, meeting basic and complex financial service needs of the growing African population. We are Africans and determined to change the narrative of financial services in Africa and this is just the beginning,” UBA boss averred.
Business Hilights recalls that UBA Gabon and UBA Senegal had won the same awards in 2016, as both subsidiaries of UBA Group remain the Banks to beat in Gabon and Senegal.
The Bankers’ Award is a creation of the Financial Times Newspaper, The Banker Magazine is a global financial intelligence magazine that provides global bank ratings/analysis and it is the definitive reference in international banking for high level decision makers globally.
According to the magazine, the aim of the award “is to highlight industry wide excellence within the global banking community.
Also, the winner is selected from participating banks in each of the 120 countries from which entries are received for the competition.”
On why UBA carted away multiple categories in its December issue, the Banker’s Magazine noted that Africa’s economic landscape has been unpredictable in recent times which resulted in recession in some of Africa’s best performing economies, while the region as a whole only expanded by about 1.3% in 2016.
The Magazine disclosed that “In these conditions only the most diversified and innovative of regional banks can prosper. And this is precisely why the United Bank for Africa (UBA) has scooped the 2017 regional winner award. For one, the lender registered impressive top- and bottom-line growth over the review period”.
The magazine went further to enumerate the various achievements recorded by UBA group during the period, noting that earnings for the year reached N384bn ($1.07bn) signalling 22% growth from its 2015 performance while profit before tax also grew, by 32%, to reach N91bn.
