In its Half-Year unaudited financial statement submitted to the Nigeria Exchange Group Limited, retail lender Unity Bank Plc reported a growth in deposits to N333.38 billion, or 2% more than the N327.42 billion recorded in H1’22.
The Times reported that the lender’s dedication to expanding its retail presence through a well-diversified banking product suite that serves various segments of the retail market is seen in the growth in deposits.
Gross income and total assets, which were recorded at N27.5 billion as opposed to N27.4 billion and N512.1 billion from N510.1 billion correspondingly within the period under review, are two other highlights of the unaudited financial statement.
From N289.4 billion at the end of 2022 to N198.6 billion at the end of 2023, the net loans portfolio drastically decreased by 31%. The bank’s NPL Ratio remained low, at less than 3%, while its liquidity ratio was high, at more than 45%.
The recent FX liberalization policy in Nigeria, however, had an influence on foreign exchange revaluation, which reduced the Bank’s earnings for the period and caused the institution to incur a revaluation loss of N35 billion.
Despite this, the retail lender dramatically increased its FX trading income by 17% to N239.8 million from N204.4 million in the same period of 2022, highlighting the Bank’s strategic aim on broadening and expanding its profits portfolio.
In a similar vein, fees and income commission also increased by 10%, from N3.2 billion to N3.5 billion, as compared to the same period in 2022, thanks to the company’s expanding digital banking platforms and increased client acquisition in the retail sector.
The Managing Director/CEO of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs. Tomi Somefun, noted that the significant disruptions that characterized the operating environment had a negative impact on the bank’s positions “to the extent that we have limitations on income generation as a result of the revaluation of the bank’s net foreign liabilities brought on by the period’s Naira devaluation.”
Mrs. Tomi stated, 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.”
Finally, she stated that 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.
