growth. Asset Quality improved as non-performing loans ratio dropped from 4.4% in 2007 to 3.5% in 2008. Shareholder Funds rose to N193bn, whilst Balance Sheet size was up by 39% to N2.3trn (2007 N1.64trn).

UBA also recorded an impressive Return on Assets (ROA pre-tax & exceptional items) and Return on Equity (ROE pre-tax & exceptional items) of 3.4% and 29.2% respectively.
The bank has rewarded shareholders with two scrip issues (1 for 2 in June 2008) and (1 for 4 in January 2009).

This is in addition to N1.00 actual cash dividend, which translates to an effective dividend of N1.37 per share when adjusted for increase in outstanding shares as a result of the scrip issue in June 2008. Estimated return on investment on the bank's shares is in excess of 80% in 2008, made up of 75% scrip issue and 8.8% yield on cash dividend.

In the interactive session, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tony Elumelu revealed the bank's plans to further extend its African footprint to 15 additional markets in 2009. Currently established in Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda and Burkina Faso, and with presence in strategic global financial markets, London and New York, UBA will target other key African markets in 2009, including Tanzania, Benin, Senegal, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, amongst others.

Elumelu assured the bank's stakeholders of continued growth in the new financial year, noting that regional subsidiaries which are yet to contribute to the Group's bottom-line will contribute to the overall profit in the coming year.

Whilst asserting that UBA has “the best crop of personnel in the industry”, the UBA boss committed to continually upgrade and empower its human capital to ensure the bank delivers a compelling service to its customers and sustain the growth momentum in the years ahead.
He took the opportunity to introduce the recently hired Director of UBA Academy, Ben Odukwe, who will drive the Group's talent development efforts through focused training.

“In the last two years, we embarked on an ambitious corporate transformation exercise to strengthen key areas of our operations, including Risk Management, Corporate Governance and Customer Service delivery, and we have a pool of quality talent driving the execution of our strategic plan,” Elumelu affirmed.

While enjoining shareholders to be steadfast in their investment in UBA, Elumelu stated that the bank's preparedness to absorb the current financial turmoil should not be in doubt, explaining that UBA has the asset base and strong liquidity position to do this.

It was also reported that UBA is in the process of implementing the International Financial Reporting Standards (IRFS) and Basel 11 Compliance, both systems which are more compatible with global standards in bulk finance and risk management transactions.
UBA's consistent stellar performance coupled with its focused expansion plans no doubt echo the bank's claim to being Africa's global bank.

return on equity, and regional expansion, among others.
The feat achieved by the bank is coming on the heels of similar award of Bank of the year won in 2006 and 2007 consecutively, a prize instituted by The Banker magazine, a subsidiary of the Financial Times of London.

Speaking at the award ceremony in London, Publisher/CEO of EMEAfinance magazine, Christopher Moore described Nigeria's banking sector as the most dynamic in Africa. He said, “The story of African banking over the last 12 months has, in some ways, been the story of Nigeria.”

Declaring Oceanic Bank as an outstanding financial conglomerate with consistent impressive performance record, EMEAfinance noted that: “Our winner of the best bank award, Oceanic Bank, has seen its gross earnings grow by an annual average of 65% every year since 2004. Its assets tripled last year. Profit before tax also more than doubled last year.”

EMEAfinance also noted that Oceanic Bank's shareholders' funds grew by around seven times last year, while the bank recorded the lowest cost-to-income ratio of its peers, at just 56%, for the period under review.

“Oceanic Bank has expanded its branch network aggressively, from 53 branches in 2004 to 320 business offices as of September 2007. It has accelerated its international expansion, with offices and affiliates open in Ghana and Gambia, and operations opening soon in Liberia, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Chad and Sudan,” the magazine added.

Oceanic Bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. (Mrs.) Cecilia Ibru who received the award said the recognition was yet another testimony to Oceanic Bank's consistent impressive performance over the years. She dedicated the award to the Bank's staff who she said their expertise and commitment to excellence and best practices had given the Bank a competitive edge that has made Oceanic a top player in the nation's financial services sector.

offer is yet to be fully put to work in the bank's operations. Earlier in his address to shareholders, Chairman Board of Directors of the Bank, Abdul-Lateef Kolawole Abiola, told shareholders that Bank PHB is “poised for a bright future as the bank has built in a number of initiatives to enhance its operational efficiency in order to continually increase shareholder returns.”

Some of the initiatives he said include “the installation of new IT Software called Temenos T24, a core banking application that will enable the bank cut turnaround time in its banking halls.” “The most striking feature of this remarkable software is that it has been found to be future proof. This means that it has the ability to accommodate future changes that would be of significant strategic advantage in coming years.”

He also disclosed that Bank PHB added more than 30 branches to its total branch network during the year while it recapitalized and repositioned two of its key subsidiaries, Insurance PHB and Mortgages PHB in its bid to become a bank “that meets the respective needs of all categories of stakeholders”

The Chairman informed shareholders that Bank PHB in February 2008 began operations in Gambia with four branches after successfully acquiring a bank hitherto known as International Bank for Commerce (IBC) Limited.

Also speaking at the AGM, Francis Atuche, MD/CEO of Bank PHB assured shareholders that the bank is within a “spitting” distance of meeting its goals of operating at the very peak of the Nigerian banking industry.

The result shows the bank's earnings hitting an all time high of N87 billion in 2008, 141 percent higher than the N36 billion earnings in the same period of 2007.

Profit before tax, as has been the trend in the last three years, rose at a higher pace than earnings, rising 153 percent from N10 billion to N26 billion within the same period.
Commenting on the results, Francis Atuche, MD/CEO Bank PHB said “We have once more shown that we can sustain the superior returns delivered to shareholders in the last three years as well as maintain our above industry growth rate through the delivery of exceptional customer services”

Bank PHB announced total assets of N1.038 trillion, 172 percent higher than N382 billion in June 2007. Total assets plus contingents hit an all time high of N1.15 trillion, 140 percent more than N479 billion in June 2007.

Mr. Atuche disclosed that the bank has been able to match its steep growth in asset size with the deployment of strong human capital, state of the art IT infrastructure and internal control systems. He promised that the bank would continue to deliver superior shareholder value.

Agoro, Associate Partner of Phillips Consulting commended the bank for what she described as “superior performance” since the institution of the award, adding that the award has engendered a healthy competition among existing banks in the country.

She further said that the award has brought about accelerated development of e-business among Nigerian banks and in the process had tremendous impact on the stakeholders including increased revenue for the banks, exciting e-service offerings for customers and enhanced enlightenment for shareholders.

Zenith Bank came tops in six categories in this year's edition to clinch the coveted position as the overall most effective (web) site, polling a total of 78.64 points ahead of the first and second runners-up with 73.11 and 64.05 points respectively.

The categories include, Aesthetics most attractive site, Content-most informational site, E-financial services most functional site and Technicality most operational site.

of a yearly International Creative Writing Workshop that is hosted by notable Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche.

The workshop series, which has been successfully done for two years running, attracting renowned authors and editors across the world to light up the local literary scene and impart essential skills on aspirant writers.

The last edition of the workshop which took place in Lagos attracted Dave Eggers from the USA, Marie-Elena John from Antigua and Binyavanga Wainaina from Kenya while the closing ceremony drew a sizeable crowd of emerging voices on the local literary scene.

The bank has also recently extended a friendly gesture to the visual arts community, organizing a design contest for students of tertiary institutions across the country. Fidelity was also in the forefront of concerted efforts to mark the 50th Anniversary of the publication of Things Fall Apart earlier in the year and has remained a staunch promoter of Nigeria's intangible values.

All these contributed in no small measure to the Special Award conferred on the bank by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). It would be recalled that earlier in August this year the bank had beaten a number of contenders across the continent to become the most socially responsible company in Nigeria for the promotion of arts in 2008 at the Social Enterprise Reports and Awards (SERA) organized by Tru-Contact Media in association with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

“These awards couldn't have come at a better time. They re-assure us that our CSR direction is right, that we are making a difference in areas of critical importance”, said an insider in the bank.