Unity Bank unveils retail strategy as gross income surges 16.7%

The board of Unity Bank plc is poised to make the financial institution the country’s retail bank of choice through excellent service delivery, according to Mahmud Elems, acting executive director, Southern region.

Retail bank of choice means that the bank is first in retail customer preference list. In other words, the average customer often considers the bank’s range of services first before thinking of any other bank. Elems said to cement this position, there was the need to attain excellent profitability position.

“To become Nigeria’s retail bank of choice over the next 42-48 months, we must attain very excellent profitability position for our stakeholders,” said Elems in a briefing with journalists last week. “We have modified and developed products that will suit our customers’ needs at the retail level,” he said.

According to Theodora Amechi, head, corporate communication of the bank, between 2006 to date the bank’s equity base grew by 297 percent, while total assets more than tripled when compared with the previous year; total operating income grew by 6.8 percent in Q1 2013 compared with 2011 and 2012 financial year. “Between 2012 and 2013, the bank has consolidated its position by increasing profit after tax by 129 percent, while deposit base grew by 17 percent,” Amechi said.

The bank came into existence as a result of the re-capitalisation policy of the CBN in 2005, which saw nine banks come together to form synergy.

The bank in its unrelenting strategy to increase market share and improve on customer satisfaction, has earmarked 1000 ATMs, 50,000 PoS terminals and an additional 50 branches to be added to its existing branch networks by 2014.

Unity Bank has raised additional capital to finance the next phase of expansion. Prospective investors have expressed willingness to acquire equity stake in the bank.

The bank’s gross income for the nine months to September 2013 grew by 16.7 percent year on year (YOY) to N45.4 billion, compared with N38.9 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2012.

Total customer deposits advanced by 15.4 percent to N311.6 billion, from N270.0 billion recorded in the corresponding period Q3 2012-thanks to the banks retail products which are attracting more customers across the country.

Its total assets for the nine months period to September 2013 surged by 11.2 percent to N439.9 billion, from N395.7 billion as at September 2012.

The bank has 38.4 billion shares outstanding, with shareholder funds standing at N51.4 billion at the end of September 2013.

The bank’s has positioned itself to take advantage of the robust growth and expansion in the Nigeria economy, as a result of the inflow of foreign direct investment into the country. Nigeria, the continent’s biggest oil producer and second largest economy after South Africa, may expand 6.75 percent next year,” the country’s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said last month.

The bank had a market capitalisation of N26 billion as of November 22, 2013.

The share price of the bank on the floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange closed at 0.69k, growing at the rate representing a capital gain of 38 percent.

“The bank has developed a wide range of new products like the Pocket Money, a sister of Unity Money,” Amechi said

“This product allows individuals perform banking transactions without a bank account-it is designed to entice the unbanked population .One of our mission is to increase our share of the market by capturing a large section of the unbanked population,” She stated further.