honours over the weekend as it emerged the Bank of the year 2019; while
its Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka,
also emerged CEO of the year at the Business Hallmark Newspaper Awards,
held at the Civic Centre in Lagos on Sunday.Uzoka beat other CEOs to the prize owing to his sterling achievement
since he assumed the leadership role of the bank three years ago, whilst
UBA was crowned bank of the year following its exceptional performance
as it recorded impressive performance in key financial indicators in
2019.
This is the second time this year that Kennedy Uzoka has emerged CEO of
the year as he had only recently clinched the Business Day Banking
Awards, (BAFI). The recognitions and awards have further endorsed his
visionary leadership style which has consistently earned UBA a plethora
of laurels.
Receiving the awards on behalf of the bank, at a well-attended ceremony,
which assembled distinguished personalities, UBA’s Executive Director,
Mr. Ayoku Liadi, who represented the GMD, thanked the organisers for the
recognition, noting that he was proud to work at one of the best
institutions in Africa.
“We are creating superior value for all our customers, because we
believe they are key to our everyday operations and this commitment,
without a doubt has been yielding dividends,” Liadi said.
He continued: “Whilst we are encouraged by these awards, the
recognitions present new challenges to us, as we will intensify our
commitment towards setting benchmarks for the industry, particularly in
our strategic roles,”
The Organiser of the awards and the Chief Executive Officer of Business
Hallmark, Emeka Obasi, who spoke at the event explained that the best
CEO award is borne out of the need to recognise achievements of
financial executives who have been outstanding in their profession and
have contributed in no small measure to the growth of their
organisations and the economy at large.
Obasi also noted that the award given to UBA, is no doubt a
well-deserved one, as is evidenced in the banks numerous innovations,
and consistent investment in cutting edge technology giving birth to
many firsts, including the launch of Leo the Chat Banker, in January of
2018. This fear has earned the bank the number one position in the
digital space.
“Uzoka also did well by focusing on consistent expansion of UBA’s
activities and services across and beyond the African continent”, all
this is worthy of recognition.” Obasi concluded.
Just recently, UBA released its nine-month results ended September 30,
2019, closing the period with an impressive after-tax profit of
N81.63bn, a growth of 32% over that of 2018, a momentum the bank will
most likely sustain into the full-year, pointing to the possibility of
even higher profits.
The bank’s gross earnings for 2019 nine-month stood at N428.22bn,
compared to N310.45bn in 2018, representing 37.94% rise, while profit
hit N81.63bn, from N61.7bn in 2018. The UBA group’s impairment charges
on financial assets for the period decreased to N6.66bn, compared to
N10.67bn in 2018, resulting in a decline in loan loss provision of
37.58%, thereby boosting the bank’s profit for the period.