By Omoh Gabriel
Shareholders of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, weekend adopted a holding company structure in compliance with the modified universal banking scheme. Under the new structure the umbrella company will be known as UBA Holding Company (UBA Holdco) with four sub entities as UBA Plc, UBA Capital Holdings, UBA Africa Holdings and UBA Properties.
The shareholders, at the 49th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank in Asaba, Delta State voted in support of the plans embarked upon by UBA in compliance with the ongoing banking sector reforms.
“The holding company arrangement as proposed by the bank is good. It gives us shareholders the opportunity to be part of the HoldCo and a leeway into assets that are not hitherto part of the company” said Sunny Nwosu, National Coordinator of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria.
In the proposed Holdco arrangement which is before the apex banking regulatory body the CBN for approval, UBA Plc will continue to be the flagship business of the group, provide banking services to customers through its large network of branches and an excellent suite of e-banking products whilst UBA Capital Holdings will be holding entity for all the non-bank financial services businesses of the group.
The third sub-entity; UBA Africa Holdings will oversee the bank’s subsidiaries in the 17 countries in Africa to provide the focus required for the delivery of its growth objectives in the market, and a new entity; UBA Properties has been established for the management of the group’s vast property assets and real estate investments which currently stand at over N 100 billion.
This new structure is the way to go in the new policy regime given our exponential growth and investments across Africa . We are beginning to derive significant values from these investments hence the decision to have a HoldCo that will keep all of our bank and non bank subsidiaries within the group” said Phillips Oduoza, GMD/ CEO UBA.
Despite the challenging economic environment, UBA has been consistent in returning value to its shareholders. Shareholders of the bank at the AGM also approved the proposed bonus and dividend payout recommended by the bank for its financial year ended December 31, 2011. The bank had proposed a dividend payment of 0.05k to its shareholders and a bonus of 1 for every 4 shares held.
United Bank for Africa Plc is one of Africa’s leading financial services institutions offering banking services to more than 7.2 million customer accounts across 726 branches , 1,230 ATMs and 3, 900
PoS units deployed across 18 African countries. With Presence in New York , London and Paris , UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail and corporate banking, innovative cross-border payments, trade finance and investment banking services.
