Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has released third quarter financial scorecard for the period ended September 30, 2019, recording gross earnings of N117.152 billion.
The result showed a drop of N5.044 billion or 4.13 per cent compared with N122.196 billion reported in the preceding year.
The bank’s result submitted at the Nigeria Stock Exchange showed that interest income declined by two per cent from N91.479 billion reported in the preceding year to N90.026 billion at the end of September this year. Interest expenses went up to N49.530 billion from N42.074 billion in 2018, bringing net interest income to N40.496 billion against N49.405 billion reported in the comparative period of last year.
An analysis of the bank result indicated that net impairment charge for credit loses down from N7.434 billion in the preceding year to N3.790 billion while net trading income dipped from N7.659 billion in the comparative period to N4.723 billion. Net fee and commission income increased from N8.693 billion in the comparable period to N9.542 billion at the end of September 2019 while operating income down by two per cent to N71.4 billion from N72.7 billion in the preceding year.
Commenting on the results, the chief executive officer, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Emeka Emuwa, said: “Profit Before Tax (PBT) for the Group is up to N15.6 billion, a five per cent increase over the same period in 2018.
Our continued focus on consumer centric service and product propositions is yielding solid results, contributing to a 28 per cent growth in our electronic channels fee income which is at N5.6 billion for the period. Our debt recovery drive continues to record successes with N8.4 billion of recoveries year to date.
Speaking on the bank nine month result, Chief Financial Officer, Joe Mbulu said:
“While we had a slight decline in Gross Earnings for the Group from N122.2 billion to N117.2billion in 2018, our efficiency initiatives, including the deployment of Robotics Process Automation as well as our cost optimisation programme, ensured we delivered 4 per cent growth in Profit After Tax (PAT), recording N15.2bn compared to N14.7 billion in the prior year period.
