Unity Bank declares N65.03bn gross earnings in Q3 2017

Unity Bank Plc has declared a growth of one per cent in its gross earnings to N65.03 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2017from N64.58 billion in the corresponding period of 2016.

The bank’s profit showed a pre-tax profit of N2.7billion and post-tax profit ofN2.45 billion, while it’s operating expenses was down by about 2 per cent to N18.6 billion in 2017 from N18.9 billion in corresponding in 2016.

The bank explained that this was as a result of the cost containment initiatives instituted by the Management aimed at optimizing resources that attract efficiency and effectiveness of the Bank’s Assets. The Bank’s Earnings per share for the period under review stood at 20.94 kobo.

Commenting on the results, Mrs. Tomi Somefun, Managing Director/CEO Unity Bank Plc noted that the Bank in the process of repositioning itself has tapped into the emerging opportunity in the enlarged economic space within Nigeria particularly in the Agriculture and SME value chains.

The Bank is building strong infrastructure for retail banking and attracting youths for its sustainable banking business by developing customer-centric products to meet the needs of its esteemed customers.

She noted that the Bank is aggressively and creatively pushing the frontiers of its business with initiatives aimed at unlocking inherent potentials that will enable it to effectively ride on economic headwinds and target opportunities in the markets.

The Bank recently recorded unprecedented success in the resolution of its legacy Non-performing Loans (NPLs); an initiative now considered as an industry-wide direction in Private Asset Management Company (PAMC) as encapsulated in the new CBN exposure draft for addressing banks’ NPLs challenges. The full impact of the initiative on the account and shareholder’s value is expected to begin manifest soon.

Working hand- in- hand with the Federal Government to achieve a reduced dependence on oil revenue, Unity Bank is contributing its quota towards the development of the agricultural sector by developing NIRSAL Farmers Savings Account product; specifically designed for bank customers (farmers) in rural areas under a special relationship with NIRSAL while also working with CBN to restructure the Bank’s portfolio of non-performing agricultural loans for tenure extension in order to reduce legacy impact on the bank’s bottom-line performance.

The Bank has also gone into partnership and collaboration with Development Finance Institutions like BoI, NEXIM, USAID, etc., to attract intervention funds to finance agricultural businesses and also create products around rural financing and agricultural business development.