It has been quite a fantastic year for UBA and its shareholders as the bank added nearly N2.1 trillion in total assets to become the third largest bank in the country.
UBA assets rose to N7.7 trillion in 2020, edging out First Bank of Nigeria Holdings who recorded N7.68 trillion and were subsequently forced to concede its third largest bank title to UBA.
Along with this fantastic news, the bank also recorded net profit of around N109.3 billion in 2020 helping the bank sail past the N100 billion net earnings mark for the first time in its 73-year history. UBA also overtook Access to become the third most profitable bank in the country.
Analysts were surprised at the pace UBA used in amassing the nearly N7.7 trillion assets it currently holds. Over the last 5 years, UBA has added about N4.1 trillion in assets, representing an asset growth rate of around 120 percent.
To put this into context, the total assets held by GTBank, the fifth largest bank by assets in Nigeria as at year end 2020 was about N4.9 trillion.
During this 5-year period, total equity increased by only N261 billion, showing the size of liability amassed to support this asset growth in the last 5 year.
Total deposits grew by around N3.5 trillion, a jump of around 136 percent. Again, to put this figure into perspective, the total deposits GTBank held in its balance sheet as at year end 2020 was N3.6 trillion.
Total liabilities in the bank have swelled to N7 trillion in 2020, helping the bank earn super profits during the year. With the economic outlook expected to be stable this year as the economy enters recovery mode, analysts say they expect to continue to see a slowdown in the super asset growth during the year as the bank starts to closely watch its leverage levels.
The total assets held by 5 of the largest banks in the country swelled to N37.4 trillion in 2020.
Access Bank remains the largest bank by assets in the country with total assets of around N8.68 trillion.
Zenith Bank reported total assets of around N8.48 trillion. The remaining members of the top 5 include UBA (N7.7 trillion), FBNH (N7.68 trillion) and GTBank (N4.9 trillion).