United Bank for Africa’s (UBA) Nigeria operations were a drag on profit in H1, 2025, compared to its rest of Africa business, a sign of the tough competitive landscape in its home market where at least 20 other major banks and fintechs operate.
Analysts say a sustained trend would negatively affect UBA stock price and valuation.
UBA reported profit after tax of N88.8 billion in its Nigeria operations, compared to N335.25 billion in Africa and N44.68 billion in its international operations.
That means that Nigeria operations were responsible for only 19% of profit after tax before eliminations (see chart below), with the Africa operations making up the bulk of the remainder.
The UBA Group operates in 3 major geographical regions:
Nigeria, which comprises UBA Plc (excluding the branch in New York) and UBA Pensions Custodian Limited, Africa which comprises all subsidiaries in Africa, excluding Nigeria and International: which comprises UBA UK Limited, UBA New York branch and UBA Abu Dhabi.
The trend of Nigeria losing ground to Africa operations continued with deposits and Assets in Nigeria now smaller than the rest of Africa.
UBA reported deposits from customers and banks of N12.27 trillion for its Nigeria operations, while Africa deposits were equivalent to N14.6 trillion.
Similarly, total assets for Rest of Africa operations came in at N17.26 trillion, compared to N15.67 trillion for Nigeria.
Analysts MoneyCentral spoke to said UBA cannot afford to cede Nigeria to other banks and fintechs as it would become a problem for growing profit in the future.
“Nigeria is projecting a GDP of $1 trillion by 2030 and will surely become the largest economy in Africa by the next 10 years, just based on demographic growth alone. Banks would still have to take their Nigeria operations seriously, to avoid being overtaken by fintechs,” an economist told MoneyCentral.
Nigeria banking sector evolving as customer’s demand better service
Mobile money and fintech companies (OPay, PalmPay) processed ₦41.5 trillion in transactions between January – July 2024, compared to negligible levels in 2020, reflecting a shift away from less reliable bank payment channels, according to data from Ecofin Agency.
Incidents of system outages and failed upgrades dogged major Nigeria banks in 2024 leading to persistent complaints, with thousands of customers reporting failed transfers, frozen accounts, and delayed funds reversal.
Persistent failures have eroded public trust and forced many individuals and businesses to seek alternatives with fintech providers like OPay, Moniepoint and PalmPay.
More than 60% of customer complaints in early 2024 related to failed electronic transactions, with failed transfers as a major category.
Meanwhile, failure rates on POS rose to roughly 13–15% of all card transaction attempts by mid-2024, a significant uptick compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to the NIBSS.
MoneyCentral looked at incidents of social media complaints by Nigerians about failed bank transactions on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram as well as TikTok, Youtube, WhatsApp and online social sites like Nairaland, and the major banks topped the ranking of negative social media mentions.
Deeper dive into UBA geographic segment operations as at H1
The total Revenue from UBA Africa operations at N837 billion were higher than Nigeria which came in at N811.4 billion, while interest expenses for Nigeria operations surged to N369.76 billion.
This was 114% higher than interest expenses paid in its Africa operations reflecting the high interest rate environment in Nigeria as well as the need for UBA to pay up for deposits, unlike fintechs.
UBA Nigeria operations booked an impairment loss of N62.7 billion, compared to a gain for its Rest of Africa operations, while operating expenses were slightly lower in Nigeria compared to rest of Africa.
UBA didn’t pay income tax expenses in the Half Year period to June 2025 for its Nigeria operations while it booked N53.7 billion in income tax expense for its Africa operations.
UBA’s profit for its Nigeria operations of N88.83 billion fell by 49.6% in H1, 2025, compared to H1, 2024 levels when it booked profit after tax of N176.45 billion.
In the H1 2024 period, Nigeria operations contributed 40% of after-tax profit before eliminations.
By H1 2025, Nigeria operations had fallen to only 19% of profit after tax before eliminations.
Valuations for UBA stock may contract if this becomes a recurring trend.
While some geographic diversification is valued by investors, the Nigerian banking and payments space has given rise to numerous billion dollar fintechs such as Moniepoint and Opay, and as such, UBA stock (currently trading at a low 0.41x book value) would more likely be sold than bought on any long lasting dwindling of profit in Nigeria.
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