UBA Sierra Leone records sterling performance in 2020 Financial Year

 

 

 

 

UBA Sierra Leone records sterling performance in 2020 Financial Year

• 71% Growth in Total Assets to Le1.32 trillion
• 65% Growth in PBT (Profit Before Tax) to Le123.7 billion
• 54% Growth in Shareholders Funds (Equity) to Le264.13 billion

UBA Sierra Leone recently received Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) “No Objection” approval to publish its Year 2020 Audited Financial Statement which was earlier approved by its Board of Directors on the 17^th of March 2021.

The Bank recorded an impressive performance in the financial year with significant improvements across most parameters amidst the challenging 2020 Calendar year characterised by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Specifically, UBA closed the year 2020 with a balance sheet size of Le1.32 Trillion a growth of Le544.7 Billion representing a 71% increase compared to Le771.5 Billion in 2019. This growth was largely driven by growth in deposits from customers. Despite the challenging market situation, the bank recorded growth of 67% in customer deposits to close at Le787.4 Billion at the end of the year compared to Le 472.5 billion in 2019 by leveraging on its digital prowess to provide 24/7 service to its customers via electronic channels to defy the Covid 19 constraints.

In area of risk assets, the bank could not expand its portfolio prudentially in 2020 as part of the process of mitigating the possible negative impact of Covid 19 on businesses. The customer loan book inched down by 28% year-on-year to close at Le 59.5 billion compared to Le 82.3 billion in 2019.

Nevertheless, the bank recorded a remarkable profit before tax of Le123.7 billion and profit after tax of Le92.8 billion representing impressive year-on-year growth of 65% and 81% respectively. The 2020 profit after tax translates to a 42.6% post-tax return on average equity and 8.9% return on total assets.

Gross earnings increased by 49% for the year ended 2020 accounting for the year-on-year increase in net interest income by 63% from Le 86.9 billion to Le141.9 billion. The bank also leveraged on its transaction banking channels, digital banking products, trade and foreign exchange offerings to grow non-interest income to 35% of gross earnings. We remain optimistic that our investments in alternative channels will continue to support the growth of our non-interest income lines to continually increase our gross earnings in the medium term.

Our operating expenses increased by 40% in 2020 following the 27% rise recorded in 2019 due to increase in our operations.  However, it is also pleasing that our cost-to-income ratio, one of our crucial key performance indicators, further improved to 33.8% from 37.4% in 2019. We expect this to be sustained in the coming years as we leverage on the increasing digitalisation and process improvement initiatives of the bank.

UBA Sierra Leone remains very liquid and adequately capitalized, with capital adequacy ratio of 112.7% (2019: 112.0%) which is well above the regulatory minimum. Our capital buffer remains strong to support our business growth and branch expansion plan, particularly as we are also leveraging internally generated capital by way of prudent and pragmatic earnings retention with Zero Dividend payment over the years.

Outlook and strategic focus

Despite the highly competitive operating environment, we leveraged our franchise and deepened our market share across our key focus sectors by increasing our share of existing customer’s wallet while also on-boarding new customers. We are particularly pleased with the growth in our retail and corporate deposits which is a testament to our investment in service channels, digital banking offerings, and renewed focus on superior customer experience across all our contact points.

The growth in retail deposits which is largely a stable, low-cost source of funding, provides further stability to our balance sheet and reinforces a stronger outlook in the years ahead.

Our ability to significantly grow our customer deposits base, total assets, and profitability in such a competitive banking industry is a source of pride. We do not intend to rest on our oars. We will continue to explore opportunities for business growth in the marketplace, devote attention to the execution of several initiatives outlined in our Project Alpha Strategy, leverage on the expertise and strength of our parent company as a leading pan-African bank to drive the attainment of our industry leadership objectives across various parameters in the banking space. We will always strive to deliver superior services to our customers in a sustainable way in line with our C1st (Customer First) operating philosophy.

I want to use this opportunity to thank our esteemed customers for their loyalty and continuous patronage that contributed significantly to this sterling performance and the Board for their unceasing support that is a source of encouragement to all staff and management of the bank in our journey towards making UBA Sierra Leone the undisputable leading and dominant financial service institution in the country.

To download click the link below
Financial Statements 2020