Union Bank reports 20% growth in PBT H1, 2024, despite CBN’s intervention

Despite the challenging environment following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s intervention in January 2024, which led to heightened customer concerns, Union Bank of Nigeria has reported a profit before tax of N79.8 billion on gross earnings of N333 billion during the half year ended June 30, 2024 compared with a profit before tax of N66.5 billion on gross earnings of N210.5 billion during the corresponding period of 2023, representing a growth of 20 percent in profit before tax and 58 percent in gross earnings. The Bank said in a statement that,”This accomplishment demonstrates the bank’s resilience and commitment to delivering results in uncertain times.” Commenting on the results, Yetunde B. Oni, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank ,said: “I am pleased that  Union Bank of Nigeria has delivered a progressive financial performance in the first half of the year, with a significant boost in Net Interest Income, Net Operating Income, and Net Trading Income.

“At the beginning of the year, our top priority was to keep the momentum going with a strong focus on stability following the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We also continued with the planned strategic priorities, which are centred around scaling our digital play, driving hyper growth in target sectors, optimising our wholesale bank structure, aggressively ensuring recoveries of past-due obligations, and orchestrating a robust ecosystem play through existing and new partnerships. So far, we are seeing the direct impact of our strategy on our financial performance. We achieved a substantial increase in Gross Earnings by 58% to ₦333bn compared to ₦210.5bn in H1 2023. Net Operating Income after Impairments increased by 32% to ₦143.6bn from ₦108.5bn in H1 2023, attributed to enhanced interest income, fees, commissions, and margin expansion. Similarly, we achieved Profit Before Tax (PBT) of ₦79.8bn, representing 20% growth compared to ₦66.5bn in H1 2023.

“In pursuit of our strategic priority to scale our digital play, Union Bank successfully launched its digital lending platform, UnionKash. This platform enables existing and new-to-bank customers to access soft loans easily.