UBA Consolidates its lead position & Restructures

02 Feb 2007

The United Bank for Africa Plc recently made history by posting phenomenal results for financial year 2006 with a groundbreaking crossing of the N1 trillion mark in balance sheet size.

The results were cause for celebration at the Bank’s recent 45th Annual General Meeting, held at the Grand Hotel in Asaba, Delta State, where the mood was celebratory as delegates congratulated UBA for surpassing their expectations in growing shareholder value and wealth in the last financial year.

Following the AGM, UBA announced a restructuring of its board and executive team to inject fresh impetus into its march towards industry leadership in the financial services landscape of Africa.

The reorganisation includes the appointment of a new Chairman, one new Executive Director and four new non-Executive Directors to its board.

The distinguished Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Kayode Sofola, hitherto Chairman of UBA has retired from the board to be replaced by Chief Ferdinand Alababra, formerly Vice-Chairman.

Chief Alababra, a renowned Chartered Surveyor and Chairman of the board of NITEL, was unanimously appointed by the UBA board as Chairman, effective 1st of February 2007.

At the Bank’s AGM, Mr Kayode received commendation for his able stewardship of the board during his tenure. In response, the amiable outgoing Chairman praised the UBA management team and staff for their sterling achievements and urged that they continue the march towards the Bank’s vision.

Changes at the executive management level were also announced as follows:

Ibrahim Jega, hitherto Regional Director of the North West Bank, has been elevated to Executive Director (subject to CBN’s approval). He takes over from Bello Garba, Executive Director and former Regional Head, North Bank, who has now retired.

In addition, UBA appointed the following four new non-executive Directors to its board, following clearance from apex regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN):

Chief Kolawole B. Jamodu, OFR, an industrialist, chartered account and the first Nigerian Chairman/CEO of Paterson Zochonis Group of Companies, PZ. An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Chief Jamodu is also a fellow of several professional bodies.

Alhaji Garba S. Ruma, who brings to the board his experiences as former Controller & Area Administrator of the Bank of Industry (formerly NIDB), Director of Cooperatives, Federal Ministry of Labour & Productivity and Director of Personnel & Administration, Arewa Hotels, amongst other previous high level appointments.

Mr Adekunle Olumide , OON, a quintessential diplomat and accomplished technocrat in the organized private sector, who served as Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry between 1991 and 2005 when he retired.

Mrs. Runa Alam, an accomplished investment banker and currently CEO of Kingdom Zephyr Africa Management, a multi-national investment corporation.

The reorganisation at UBA also involves the reassignment of existing Executive Directors and other senior executives.

Chika Mordi, formerly ED, Retail Banking, is now Executive Director, Investment Banking & Asset Management, with a portfolio that includes five subsidiaries of the UBA Group namely; UBA Global Markets, UBA Asset Management, UBA Trustees, UBA Registrars and UBA Stockbrokers.

Meanwhile, Phillips Oduoza, formerly ED, Operations & Technology, is now Executive Director, Electronic & Transaction Banking. He which includes the Cards Division, Funds Transfer, Transaction Services, Mortgages, amongst other units, which drive the Bank’s innovative retail product strategy.

Femi Olaloku is the new Head of Operations & Technology. Until this appointment he was the General Manager, Information Technology (IT). Olaloku joined UBA from Citigroup where he spent 17 years and rose to Sub-Saharan African Head of Operations, Control and Information Security.

UBA’s ascendancy towards industry leadership got a big boost when it posted the unprecedented balance sheet size of N1.05 trillion in its 2006 year end results, the first ever in the history of the Nigerian banking industry. The results also showed a deposit base of N776 billion, which alone is higher than the total balance sheet size of any Nigerian bank, marking UBA clearly the leader of the industry. Profit before tax was N12.8 billion and profit after tax was N11.6 billion up from N6.5 billion and N4.9 billion respectively. All other performance indices more than doubled, validating UBA’s retail strategy which combines innovative product development with consumer promotions, strategic alliances and other diversification initiatives that have characterized the Bank’s post-merger play.

For the shareholders of UBA it was a bumper harvest. The N1 per share dividend plus a bonus share of 1 for 5 was cause for celebration at the recent AGM, in addition to the exponential growth of the Bank’s share price from N10 per share as recently as August 2006 when UBA marked its post-merger one year, to as high as N34.44 when the Bank closed its register of shareholders on 22nd January 2007 in view of the AGM. UBA has thus created immense value for its shareholders through huge capital appreciation. The Bank was the first to consolidate and carry out a successful integration process. For the CBN, UBA was a test case and confidence booster for the banking industry reform which had been given little chance of success by many industry operators. UBA is also a practical demonstration of the incremental value that mergers and acquisitions can create. Whilst the pre-merger entities, legacy UBA and STB, were ranked 3rd and 5th in size, respectively, the consolidated UBA has emerged the clear number one in the industry today.

UBA boasts an impressive pedigree of executive management and a general management comprising a crop of highly competent professionals, drawn locally and from the Diaspora. The Bank has in its employment four ex-CEOs of banks who now head various arms of the UBA Group. The award-winning Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA, Tony Elumelu, has become a celebrated figure in business, at home and abroad, for his mastery in turnaround management and for having a clear and audacious vision for his organization. He was recently elected the President of West African Bankers Association, WABA, and last November, bagged the 2006 African Business Leader of the Year Award at the Africa Investor Awards in Nairobi, Kenya. On the calibre of the UBA management, Elumelu says, “It is a demonstration of the Bank’s significant contribution to the Nigerian economy and its commitment to harness and promote African excellence, at home and abroad.”

February 02, 2007