Africa’s global bank, United Bank for Africa Plc, has announced its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2025, recording total assets growth of 9.4 per cent to N33.2tn, up from N30.3tn at the end of 2024, alongside an 11.8 per cent increase in customer deposits from N24.3tn in 2024 to N27.2tn.
The results, released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Friday, showed that the Group also delivered gross earnings of N3.09tn, down from N3.19tn recorded the previous year. Although recording a slight drop in gross earnings, the performance was still strengthened by resilient core business fundamentals and a diversified Pan-African footprint, even as the year reflected a strategic repositioning of its balance sheet for sustainable long-term growth.
Overall, the bank’s 2025 performance was impacted by prudent and forward-looking risk management decisions, including loan loss provisions of N331bn and fair value changes on derivatives amounting to N278bn. These changes, which are largely non-recurrent in nature, weighed on profitability but are not expected to recur at similar magnitudes in future periods.
Despite this, the Group maintained strong underlying performance, with operating profit exceeding N1tn before these exceptional items, highlighting the resilience of its core banking operations. A critical look at the performance showed that UBA’s capital position remained robust, with shareholders’ funds rising to N4.25tn in 2025, up from N3.42tn the previous year, with share capital and premium hitting N505bn following a very successful rights issue.
The Group’s capital adequacy ratio of 23.2 per cent provides a solid foundation to support future growth, just as the bank has also strengthened its recovery efforts, with a fortified recovery team aggressively pursuing delinquent exposures, ensuring that recoveries will positively impact earnings from full year 2026 and beyond.
Commenting on the results, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, said the bank continues to demonstrate the true strength of its Pan-African diversified model, despite the moderation in bottom-line performance compared to the prior year’s highs, as core business engines, especially in the subsidiaries outside Nigeria, delivered double-digit growth.
Related News Transcorp Hotels reports N22bn revenue in Q1 Unilever Nigeria posts N59.2bn revenue Afriland Properties reports 8% rise in revenue “The 2025 financial year was defined by UBA’s proactive approach to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new recapitalisation requirements.
With expectations of over N1tn in additional growth in the near term, the Group remains committed to driving sustainable earnings, deepening financial inclusion, and delivering superior value to shareholders across all its markets.” On his part, UBA’s Executive Director, Finance & Risk Management, Ugo Nwaghodoh, said the 2025 financial year marked a deliberate strengthening of the balance sheet and a shift toward more sustainable, higher-quality earnings in a normalizing macroeconomic environment.
“We believe that proactively recognizing potential credit losses positions us well to navigate uncertainties and support sustainable performance in future periods. The reversal of prior-year derivative gains and foreign exchange-related losses of N282.5bn drove a decline in non-interest income; these will not recur in this magnitude and should result in future earnings upside,” he explained.
According to him, despite the impact of these changes on profitability, the bank’s core business fundamentals, as well as its capital and liquidity positions, remain strong, with shareholders’ funds now at N4.25tn and a capital adequacy ratio at 23.2 per cent, having exited the CBN forbearance regime in 2025.