Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) has said it would continue to improve its customer base, branch network and services to ensure that it is among the top five most profitable financial institutions in the county.
According to its Group Managing Director, Mrs funke Osibodu, the bank is leveraging on the cash-less policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria to deploy its mobile banking products while deepening awareness on its suite of business products.
Osibodu while addressing stakeholders in the capital market at the Facts Behind the Figures presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, said as part of its growth strategy, the bank would adopt a holding company structure so as to transform strategic subsidiaries.
She maintained that the bank was back on the track of profit making, and shareholders who had endured the hard times of the bank would soon reap benefits.
With her retirement due by the end of the month, she said “We are going to have Annual General Meeting before I leave because there are over 500,000 shareholders outside the core investors who have lost money in their investment and they have been patient with the bank.”
According to her, it is important that the shareholders have a good taste of the improved bank’s result and the new management, which will be headed by Mr. Emeka Emuwa who retired from Citibank as managing director.
Speaking on the bank’s Rights Issue of December 2011, she explained that the issue was not successful and that was why the Securities and Exchange Commission cancelled it.
She said that the bank opted for the rights issue at the time when the shareholders were complaining that they didn’t need core investors, that they would recapitalise their bank, adding that the cost of the rights issue was less than N100 million.
On the repositioning of the bank, she said that the new management installed by the CBN was successful and they were addressing the issues that led to the CBN intervention.