UBA emerges ‘African Bank of the Year’

United Bank for Africa Plc has been named the Bank of the Year, Africa, by the Banker Magazine, a publication of Financial Times.

A statement by the bank on Thursday, stated that the bank carted the regional award for the continent at the Banker Awards ceremony in London.

According to the statement, the bank has joined the ranks of other regional winners like Scotiabank-Global Americas, Nordea-Western Europe, Raiffeisen Bank International -Central and Eastern Europe, DBS-Asia\Pacific and Qatar National Bank-Middle; East which have previously won the award.

It stated that the “Bank of the Year” was selected based on the overall performance of the financial institution and the opinion of leading financial analysts from the world’s financial markets.

Winners were recognized and presented with awards in the presence of over 450 leading bankers across the globe.

In a show of dominance, UBA also won the country awards for Senegal and Cameroon, bringing to a total of three, the number of awards received that night by UBA.

According to a statement by the bank, the awards further attest to UBA’s growing recognition as the leading pan-African financial services institution and as Africa’s global bank.

The awards were received by the Bank’s Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka; MD, UBA Cameroon, Mr. Georges Wega; MD UBA Capital Europe, Mr. Ebele Ogbue and Head UBA Representative Office Paris, DeMontalivet Edouard.

Explaining the rationale for the awards, the Banker said UBA was chosen on account of the bank’s successful turnaround to profitability following the write-offs and clean-up of its balance sheet in 2011.

The Banker also stated that other reasons for the selection of UBA were the notable consolidation of UBA’s business across Africa as well as its innovative cross border payment/remittance products and platforms, which had made trade and financial transactions easier and more convenient on the continent.

Commenting on the awards, Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza said they validated UBA Group’s leadership position on the continent and lent credence to its expansion across Africa and promotion of industry wide excellence in the global banking community.

Source: PUNCH