United Bank for Africa (UBA)
Plc was on Saturday, August 8, 2015 honoured with an award as Nigeria’s biggest
lender to agriculture. The award was conferred on the bank by the Lagos Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) at the chamber’s annual commerce and industry awards
night.
Phillips Oduoza, GMD/CEO UBA Plc
The
LCCI awards night recognises, promote and celebrate private and public sector
institutions operating in Nigeria for best business practices, growth through
innovations, business sustainability and positive impact on people and the
society.
UBA
was honoured on the night for consistently supporting the growth of agriculture
in Nigeria. UBA, as far back as 2009, floated the largest private sector
funding scheme of N50 billion to support agriculture and agro-processing
industries in Nigeria. Since then, UBA have sustained its commitment to the
agricultural sector by committing an average of 7% of its loan book to
agricultural financing, well above the banking industry average of 4 %.
UBA
was also one of the two banks selected in 2010 to administer the N200 billion
agriculture fund set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) because of the
bank’s commitment to agricultural financing as well as its spread across the
country.
Listing some of
the consideration that LCCI considered in selecting winning companies for the
LCCI awards, Aderemi Bello, President of LCCI, said that companies that were
selected were companies that have broadly impacted on the society positively by
challenging the status quo, redefining lifestyle creating wealth and vitality
and giving people increased confidence to become better at what they do. Other
key considerations, he said, included; compliance with set standards,
regulations, level of disclosure and corporate governance.
Commenting
on award, Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Mr. Phillips Oduoza thanked the LCCI
for the recognition given to the bank, assuring that UBA will continue to
support the agricultural sector.
“Agriculture
is key to diversifying the Nigerian economy from dependence on oil. As we
have demonstrated over the years, we will continue to support and lend to the
sector not only in Nigeria but across Africa" said Oduoza.
The
LCCI is the foremost private sector group in Nigeria with over 1,500 corporate
members accounting for an estimated 70% of industrial output, 70% of general
commerce and 75% of financial services in the country.
UBA
is a highly diversified financial services institution and leading provider of
innovative e-banking solutions across Africa. UBA is one of the largest
financial institutions in Africa, with offices in New York, London and Paris.
The UBA Group has strong retail penetration across the African continent with
more than 8 million customers. These customers enjoy a bouquet of products and
services tailored to meet their different financial needs backed by cutting
edge technology that offers secured and convenient real-time online banking
services.
