• 71% Growth in Total Assets to Le1.32 trillion
• 65% Growth in PBT (Profit Before Tax) to Le123.7 billion
• 54% Growth in Shareholders Funds (Equity) to Le264.13 billion
UBA Sierra Leone recently received Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) “No Objection”
approval to publish its Year 2020 Audited Financial Statement which was earlier
approved by its Board of Directors on the 17th of March 2021.
In a note of appreciation to all staff of the bank, the Managing Director/CEO,
Usman Isiaka noted that the bank recorded an impressive performance in the
financial year with significant improvements across most parameters amidst
the challenging 2020 Calendar year characterised by the COVID-19
pandemic.
Specifically, UBA closed the year 2020 with a balance sheet size of Le1.32
Trillion a growth of Le544.7 Billion representing a 71% increase compared to
Le771.5 Billion in 2019.
This growth was largely driven by growth in deposits from customers. Despite
the challenging market situation, the bank recorded growth of 67% in customer
deposits to close at Le787.4 Billion at the end of the year compared to Le 472.5
billion in 2019 by leveraging on its digital prowess to provide 24/7 service to its
customers via electronic channels to defy the Covid 19 constraints.
The bank recorded a remarkable profit before tax of Le123.7 billion and profit
after tax of Le92.8 billion representing impressive year-on-year growth of 65%
and 81% respectively. The 2020 profit after tax translates to a 42.6% post-tax
return on average equity and 8.9% return on total assets.
Gross earnings increased by 49% for the year ended 2020 accounting for the
year-on-year increase in net interest income by 63% from Le 86.9 billion to
Le141.9 billion. The bank also leveraged on its transaction banking channels,
digital banking products, trade and foreign exchange offerings to grow noninterest income to 35% of gross earnings. We remain optimistic that our
investments in alternative channels will continue to support the growth of our
non-interest income lines to continually increase our gross earnings in the
medium term.
The bank’s operating expenses increased by 40% in 2020 following the 27% rise
recorded in 2019 due to increase in our operations. However, it is also pleasing
that our cost-to-income ratio, one of our crucial key performance indicators,
further improved to 33.8% from 37.4% in 2019. We expect this to be sustained in
the coming years as we leverage on the increasing digitalisation and process
improvement initiatives of the bank.
UBA Sierra Leone remains very liquid and adequately capitalized, with capital
adequacy ratio of 112.7% (2019: 112.0) which is well above the regulatory
minimum. Our capital buffer remains strong to support our business growth and
branch expansion plan, particularly as we are also leveraging internally
generated capital by way of prudent and pragmatic earnings retention with
Zero Dividend payment over the years.
We want to use this opportunity to thank our esteemed customers for their
loyalty and continuous patronage that contributed significantly to this sterling
performance and the Board for their unceasing support that is a source of
encouragement to all staff and management of the bank in our journey
towards making UBA Sierra Leone the undisputable leading and dominant
financial service institution in the country.
UBA Sierra Leone is a subsidiary of UBA Plc, a leading Pan-African financial
institution headquartered in Nigeria, offering banking services to more than
twenty-five million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer
touch points, in 20 African countries. With presence in the United States of
America, the United Kingdom and France, UBA is connecting people and
businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking;
innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and
ancillary banking services. Website: www.ubasierraleone.com.