The Group Managing Director/ CEO, United Bank for Africa, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, has said the banks African subsidiaries contributed 25 per cent of the group’s profit and account for over a quarter of its overall total deposit base, which is largely made up of low-cost savings and current account deposits.
Uzoka was quoted to have said during an investor conference call on the bank’s 2016 half year results, according to a statement released by UBA.
Uzoka noted that, overall, the African business (excluding Nigeria) contributed a quarter of profit in the period, with a stronger outlook.
He said, “I am particularly impressed by the performance of our business in Congo Brazzaville, where we doubled bottom-line, largely through transaction-based offerings.
“We will continue to consolidate our position across chosen markets, as we penetrate the market through innovative, simple and convenient offerings. We will maintain our diligent focus on profitable quality asset creation, as we situate our growth appetite within our prudent risk management culture.
The UBA boss explained that the bank’s strategy was hinged on a one-point agenda -Customer1st, which follows that as banking increasingly gets commoditised, the customer will be the sole determinant of the bank’s growth and profitability.
He stressed, “Hence, to win in this evolving landscape, we have devoted our strategic initiatives to our customer as every decision and action are being taken within the context of customer satisfaction and value addition.
“To this end, we are devoting reasonable resources at the same time leveraging our technology-driven Customer Relationship Management towards increasing the depth of our understanding of customer preferences and changing needs.
“We want to be in the best position to predict the customers on their utility curve, so as to ensure we proactively offer forward-looking products and services that will create unique customer experience as well as beat expectations.