The United Bank of Africa has boosted activities of operators in the agriculture sector by N85 billion, apart from lending N180 billion to the power sector, which is the highest in the
industry.
The Head, Investor Relations, UBA Group, Mr. Abiola Rasaq, explained that bank’s loans to agriculture represent about five per of its overall loan book and that it finds these sectors to be very critical to Nigeria’s economic growth and
stability.
He said, “We are one of the banks that lend a lot of money to the manufacturing sector and one of the few banks that lend a lot of money to the power sector because we find these sectors to be critical.
“In terms of Small and Medium Enterprises, UBA’s Loans to Agriculture remains the highest. Today, our loan book in agriculture alone represents about five per of our overall loan book of N1.7trillion, which represents about N85 billion in the agric
sector.
He added, “In power, today, we have lent in excess of N180 billion across the group, and not just in Nigeria but in some other African countries, because
we have identified these sectors to be very critical, not only from a business perspective to us as
a bank.”
In terms of Corporate Social Responsibility, Rasaq said the bank spent N816million in 2017 alone, supporting the
economy.
He said, “We donated N300 million to the Nigeria Police because of security issues in Nigeria and likewise some other banks. We also donated N50 million to the Lagos State Security Trust Fund. In addition to that, UBA also donated N25 million to four different state governments to help secure their
states.”
On the significance of the recent announcement that the top financial group’s London subsidiary had obtained the permission to operate wholesome banking activities in the United Kingdom, he added
that the development would boost the bank’s earnings in 2018, adding that, with the expansion to the UK and the United States’, UBA would record more businesses from its operations.
“To the best of our knowledge, we are the only Nigerian bank that has a deposit-taking licence in the United States. No other bank in Nigeria does that.
And we say that proudly because today, we also service the correspondent banking needs of a number of Nigerian banks in the USA, because of our deposit-taking licence,” he said.
