Union Bank paid N46.28m fines in 2015 for regulatory infractions

The shareholders’ funds of Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) depleted by over N46 million following fines paid by the bank in 2015 owing to CBN regulatory infractions, its annual report has shown.

The figure contained in the bank’s annual reports and obtained by our reporter showed that the bank was fined for violating eight banking regulations during the year.

It would recalled that the figure was against the N9 million fines paid by the bank for contraventions in 2014.

A breakdown of the figure showed that UBN paid N14 million for non-compliance with the CBN guidelines on appointment of staff to top management positions.

The bank was also fined N18 million for spot check on public sector deposits, while N0.28 million was paid for non-display of regulatory item at Awka branch.

The report indicated that the bank paid N2 million for failure to designate compliance officers in line with the CBN advised structure for compliance officers in banks.

It also paid N2 million each for late refund of deposit by a former subsidiary and for granting new loans without the Bank Verification Number (BVN).

The report also said that the bank paid N2 million for late Treasury Single Account (TSA) and N6 million for AMLS/CFT reporting infraction.

Commenting on the issue, Mr Boniface Okezie, the President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), said that the contraventions and provisions were huge.

Okezie said that the bank had failed to pay dividends in the past seven years, noting that its last dividend it paid was in 2008.

He said that minority shareholders of the bank were being short-changed by the bank.

Okezie described the fine as a donation to the regulators to the detriment of the shareholders who had not received dividends for years.

“All the money paid to regulators should have been used for dividend payment and it will take a miracle for the bank to start paying dividend due to its negative position,” Okezie said.

He advised the bank to intensify efforts in its loan recovery so as to reposition its deposit base and pay dividend to shareholders in the nearest future.

The bank’s profit before tax dropped to ₦18.1 billion from ₦20.7 billion posted in 2014.

Its net interest income grew by six per cent to ₦53.8 billion against ₦50.6 billion in 2014, while asset yield stood at 16.4 per cent against 14.9 per cent in 2014.