By Stephen Ubanna
Kennedy Uzoka, Group Managing Director GMD, of the United Bank For Africa, UBA, popular, Pan African Bank, is a very happy person. Uzoka’s source of happiness was informed by the fact that the Management’s effort at sustaining the bank ‘s solid Financial base and putting smile on the faces of stakeholders have continued despite the adverse effect of the Asian country of China emerged coronavirus, better known as COVID 19, are being noticed by people and Organisation watching over them.
Many Organisations including Banks have been forced to scale down their operations due to the Pnademic . The UBA Group and its subsidiaries in thirteen African countries, operating as registered Limited Liabilities Companies in their respective countries had won the African Best Bank of 2021, award from the Banker Magazine, a Publication of the Financial Times Of London.
The UBA GMD, had said that that the award to the Bank came to him as a surprise ‘’, stressing that ‘’it is a recognition of the reassurance that the Bank is on track in Consolidating its Leadership position in Africa’’. Take for instance in the first half of this 2021, the Bank had recorded a 33.7% appreciation in its Profit Before Tax, PBT, which rose to N76.2 billion, from the N57.1 billion recorded in the same period in 2020.
Informed sources told The Value News that when information filtered that the African leading Commercial Bank and its subsidiaries in thirteen African countries had made the crowned list of the Banker Magazine, to be crowned on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, in London, United Kingdom, but some of its Competitors, within the African Continent had laughed over it.
They have their reason. The Competitors did not see the UBA Group or the subsidiaries in any of the African countries emerging top or even runners up, in the respective categories selected by the Judges. They got it wrong. This is because the organisers of the event had different criteria for recognizing the Banks for the award in the various categories. This may have informed why the UBA Group and its thirteen subsidiaries had qualified for the award that had been celebrated in in the industry circles both within Nigeria and outside the country.
Many believe that the Nigerian Bank’s solid Financial base and’’ its excellent service delivery to Customers in the 20 African countries and other countries in Europe, and the North American country of the United States, US, and its continuous role of facilitating rapid economic growth across the African Continent’’ may have placed the bank ahead of its Competitors in the Continent to win the Best Bank of the African Awards.
Note that the Nigerian Leading Bank, and its twelve subsidiaries in operating in the West African counries of Republic Benin, Bourkina Faso, Chad, Coted’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal Seierra Leone , Gambia and the subsidiaries in the Central African country of Cameroon, Gabon, Congo Brazaville, have every reason to excel in their performance given the Leadership role of the GMD.
There is gain saying the fact that Uzoka, the GMD, of UBA, which has nurtured the Pan African Financial Institution that it could compete favourably with any other highly rated Bank in the world. The UBA, GMD, and his Management Team can now raise their shoulders high that Competitors look up to them to succeed in their business. An insider told The Magazine that this is not the first time that the Pan African Bank is winning the Best African Bank of the year award from the Banker Magazine as it had won it before.
In the 2020, six subsidiaries of the Bank in Benin, Coted’Ivoire, Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Zambia, had won the best Bank of the year award, in their respective countries. Suffice it to say that this year, the UBA Group, had broken the record with the exceptional wins as’’ African Bank of the Year Award and Bank of the Year in thirteen other African countries, bring the total number of awards to the group to fourteen. Indeed, the Bank has made history in its almost 100 years of its operations, to have clinched fourteen awards in one year at a go.
The virtual Ceremony was said to have been held on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, in the Middle East. John Everington, the African Editor of the UK based Banker, Magazine, had explained at ‘’the event which took a ‘’rigorous and highly analytical process was made annually to reach the decision for each Bank of the year award and the Institution’s reputation for Independence, Authority, was thoroughly applied in each submission’’.
He noted that while several Banks had impressed the Judges this year, in the selection Board this year, ‘’there is no doubt as to the worthiest recipient of the Bank of the year award for Africa- the UBA Group , describing the Bank as a’’ clear winner across a wide range of criteria’’. He noted that ‘’the Bank had performed impressively well across the footprint with a strong financial performance across most of markets within and outside the African Continent.
Recall that Uzoka the UBA GMD, had said that the Bank must be ‘’doing something right to be recognized for the prestigious award’’. According to him ‘’ Group winning fourteen awards including the Best Bank of the year in the African Continent was ‘’ no mean achievement as he has vowed to sustain the records’’. We will continue to create superior value for all our stakeholders, he had said.
At present , the Pan African Bank has over twenty million Customers across 1,000 business offices and Customer touch points , in 20 African countries. Also, with its established presence in the US, UK and France, it is further reaching to the Foreign Customers. It is not surprising why the officials could beat their chest that the Pan African Bank is ‘’connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross-border payments and remittances, trade Finance and ancillary banking services’’
Going down the memory lane, UZoka had said that ‘’since 1926, that the Bank of the year has been celebrating the best global banking and is regarded as the industry standard for Banking excellence, this year’s edition appear quite different, for a one Bank , to clinch fourteen awards.
The 2021 award edition, was said to have highlighted those institutions that the UBA, was said to have used to outshone its Competitors in terms of ‘’performance. Strategic initiatives and response to the COVID 10 Pandemic’’.
the worthiest recipient of the Bank of the Year Award , the UBA Group, described as a ‘’a clear wiinner across a wide range of criteria. He stressed that the Pan African Bank had’’ performed impressively well across its footprint with a strong financial performance across most of the markets both witin and outside the African Continent’’.
