The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debunked allegations by an online medium that it plans to nationalise Unity Bank Plc, dismissing it as fake news.
Disclosing this, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, said “The report is fake news. There is no iota of truth in it. The public should disregard such news.”
The report had claimed that the apex bank’s target examination of Unity Bank showed that the Tier 2 lender is in “grave financial condition,” with Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio that breached prudential standards.
CBN, in its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, noted in the communiqué it issued at the end of the meeting, that the banking industry is in good health.
The communique partly read: “The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and the Liquidity Ratio (LR) both remained above their prudential limits at 15.8 and 38.9 per cent, respectively. The Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) at 5.89 per cent in April 2021, showed progressive improvement compared with 6.6 per cent in April 2020.”
Unity Bank’s audited FY’ 2020 results showed improved performance in key parameters.
For instance, the bank’s gross loans portfolio increased by 92.9 per cent to N206.2bn in 2020 from N106.9bn in 2019.
The bank’s total assets rose by 67.90 per cent when compared with N293.05bn achieved in the comparative period of 2019.
Also, the lender posted gross earnings of N42.71bn compared with N44.59bn recorded in the comparative period of 2019.
Its customer deposit portfolio grew by 34.4 per cent to N356.6bn in 2020, up from N257.69bn posted in the corresponding period of 2019.
Profit after tax stood at N2.09bn, while profit before tax was N2.22bn during the year under review.
Its net operating income rose to N25.46bn from N23.21bn in the corresponding period of 2019, representing a 9.71 per cent increase.
The net interest income also recorded a significant jump, as it rose by 7.60 per cent to N17.75bn from N16.49bn in the corresponding period of 2019.
The statement said the bank sustained the growth momentum demonstrated in its 2020 full year earnings as it recorded an impressive performance of 43 per cent in both profit before and after tax in Q1 2021.
The bank’s unaudited Q1 results showed that the retail lender profit before tax grew by 43 per cent to N784.3m from N550.1m recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.
The profit after tax for the period, which also grew by 43 per cent stood at N721.5m compared to the N506.1m recorded in Q1 2020.
As an outcome of increased focus on supporting local enterprises and industry, the asset portfolio also showed significant growth in loan book of 76 per cent as net loans and advances to customers increased to N223.2bn, from N126.6bn recorded in the corresponding period.
The total assets of the bank for the period showed an appreciable growth of 42 per cent to close at N521.5bn, from N366.8bn in the corresponding period of 2020.
The balance sheet of the bank had been considerably de-risked with the non-performing loan ratio of near-zero per cent, which it had consistently maintained over time. With this, the bank ranks number one in risk management assessment.
The bank recorded gross earnings of N11.5bn, representing a marginal decline of three per cent when compared to N11.9bn posted in the corresponding period.
