Unity Bank posts N4.6bn Profit

Unity Bank Plc posted gross earnings of N78.8bn and a profit after tax of N4.6bn compared to gross earnings of N77bn and PAT of N10.6bn in 2014.

The bank said the 2015 performance was achieved in spite of the challenging operating environment characterised by a continued lull in the economic activities in the country as well as major regulatory headwinds that impacted earnings during the year especially the Treasury Single Account.

The bank also said its performance was attributed to its repositioning strategy, in which, its assets were critically stressed-tested resulting in major impairment charges of N27bn for 2015 as against N17bn in 2014, representing a growth of N10bn on asset charge over the previous year 2014.

It said, “The new management inherited huge legacy Non-Performing Loans from the general commerce and manufacturing subsectors and believes that the impairment charge in Year 2015 was necessary in order to give new breath of life to the institution.

“The enormous task embarked upon by the new management is to position the bank for proper clean-up and de-risking of its balance sheet, thus paving way for sustainable business in its overall transformation initiatives.”

The bank said it grew its assets by seven per cent from N413bn in 2014 to N443bn in 2015, amid shrinking economic indicators, measurement and regulatory policies that affected deposit portfolio during the year under review.

Commenting on the result, the Managing Director/CEO of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs. Tomi Somefun, noted that “with the Bank’s repositioning efforts and consistent focus to tap into the emerging opportunities in the enlarged economic space within Nigeria, Unity Bank is poised to deliver quality banking service to emerging sectors in retail/Small and Medium Enterprises, commercial and the agricultural value chain.

“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 and build new clientele base. With the bank’s capital raising exercise, the year ahead is bright as the effects of the on going transformation initiatives will surely consolidate  Unity Bank as a retail bank of choice,  culminating in superior financial performance and values to all stakeholders.”