Unity Bank Grows Assets by 51% in 2018

• Unity Bank Grows Assets by 51% in 2018

Unity Bank Plc grew its assets by 50.8 percent in the 2018 financial year, according to the financial statements released on Friday.

In the audited report released through the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the financial institution increased its balance sheet size from N156.51 billion in 2017 to N235.98 billion in 2018.

Similarly, the bank grew its profit after tax to N1.27 billion, while gross earnings rose to N37.33 billion for the year under review.

A break down of the company performance reveals an improvement across key financial metrics, with net operating income growing by 112 per cent to N21.63 billion from N10.22 billion recorded in 2017. Also, non-interest income increased from N1.61 billion in 2017 to N6.3 billion, while earning per share(EPS) climbed from negative 127 kobo recorded in the 2017 financial year to 13.03 kobo in 2018.

The lender attributed the improved performance to its transformative strategies implemented during the 2018 financial year.

Speaking on the result, Mrs Tomi Somefun, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Unity Bank, said, “The most gratifying aspect of our 2018 performance, is that the Bank has made a dramatic turnaround from losses in the previous year to a promising profit position in 2018FY. This was made possible by growth in the business throughputs and transaction-based banking with its attendant strong non-interest income.

“We equally recorded significant growth in our customer acquisition through enhanced customer-centric products that we rolled out during the year riding on our rebranded channels and platforms which were well accepted by the youth. We leveraged on our exceptional competencies in agribusiness and rural economy niche market which contributed to substantial growth in loans through on-lending schemes to farmers in the last quarter of 2018, all of which buoyed our performance for the year under review.

“Also, the two-prong customer-centric banking approach being deployed to deliver quality banking services to emerging sectors in Retail/Small and Medium Enterprises and the Agricultural value chain are impacting positively on the bank’s bottom-line. In furtherance of our vision to be the “Retail Bank of Choice,” the bank revamped its digital strategy to provide convenient, simple and efficient platforms that are already attracting the next generation of Nigerians and expand the volume of loyal customers that have kept faith with us through the years. These are designed to guarantee double digits growth in both earnings and profits for the bank in the near future.”