Unity Bank Plc has posted a profit of N37.32bn for the year ended December 31, 2018.
In its financial statement, the bank said its balance sheet size increased from N156.51bn in 2017 to N235.98bn, culminating in Gross earnings of N37.33bn for the year.
It added that in the period under review, its profit before tax closed at N1.41bn and a profit after tax of N1.27bn.
The bank said in the statement that the performance was supported by noticeable fundamentals derived from the bank’s corporate action to clean up its book by eliminating all the legacy non-performing loans, which resulted in full de-risking of its balance sheet and creating a new lease of life for the bank.
The net operating income for the year grew by 112 per cent to N21.63bn from the N10.22bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
Non-interest income also increased to N6.3bn from the N1.61bn recorded in 2017, while earnings per share for the year stood at 13.03 kobo, up from negative of 127 kobo recorded in 2017 financial year.
The bank attributed its improved performance to the reinvigorated business transformation initiatives implemented during the year, in addition to strategic corporate actions taken by the management of the bank to prioritise customer service, product delivery as well as optimise its operations for operational efficiency, thus setting a stage for its sustainable business growth model.
It said the performance feat was achieved through composite strategic focus involving the complete revamp of its service delivery channels, products revamp and profiling, as well as building structured and secured operating environment to protect customers’ businesses.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Unity Bank, Mrs Tomi Somefun, said, “The most gratifying aspect of our 2018 performance is that the bank has made a dramatic turnaround from losses in the previous year to a promising profit position in 2018.
“This was made possible by growth in the business throughputs and transaction-based banking with its attendant strong non-interest income. We equally recorded significant growth in our customer acquisition through enhanced customer-centric products that we rolled out during the year, riding on our rebranded channels and platforms, which were well accepted by the youth.
“The bank is aggressively and creatively pushing the frontiers of its business by creating robust platforms to support emerging digitalisation of strategic businesses as well as corporate service units aimed at unlocking inherent potentials that will enable the bank effectively ride on economic headwinds and target opportunities in the markets.”