July 10, (THEWILL) — Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), has announced a strategic expansion plan into key markets across Africa as it consolidates its global spotlight in the highly competitive industry.
Coming 21 years after its first offshore expansion into Ghana in 2004, the Nigerian Tier-1 financial services institution disclosed that it has reinvigorated the push towards global spotlight in order to deliver innovative financial solutions to its fast-growing worldwide customer base.
This revelation was made on the completion of the UBA Group senior executives’ recently concluded Half Year Business Review, held at its global headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, presided over by the Group Managing Director/CEO, Oliver Alawuba, who brought together executives responsible for UBA’s twenty-four countries of operation.
According to the bank, the event was an opportunity to restate the Group’s pan-African strategy and commitment to further expanding its coverage across high-potential markets across Africa, while also deepening its operations in its existing twenty African presence markets.
With over 51.7 percent of the Group’s revenues coming from ex-Nigerian operations, UBA’s journey to being Africa’s most diversified financial services group was clearly in evidence during the strategic meeting.
Mr Alawuba highlighted the Group’s expansion plans, disclosing that the Group is excited about the vast opportunities that the new markets present, a testament to UBA Group’s confidence in the African economy, providing world-class banking services that meet the continent’s evolving needs.
“UBA’s vision is clear – we are building a truly global institution anchored in Africa, but serving customers across continents. Further strategic expansion positions us to unlock new opportunities, support intra-Africa trade, and deliver world-class banking experiences wherever our clients choose to do business”, Alawuba said.
“In Europe, UBA has operations in the United Kingdom and is upgrading its license in France, expanding its capacity to serve cross-border trade, investment flows, and the African diaspora, complementing our over 40-year presence in NY. These moves signal a clear message of UBA’s intent to reshape the competitive landscape”, Alawuba added.
The international strategic intent reinforces the Group’s intention to deliver innovative financial solutions to its fast-growing global customer base. The strategy demonstrates UBA’s unique position as Africa’s global bank and ability to leverage growth opportunities in emerging and leading African markets.
The Group commenced its Pan-African journey with its entry into Ghana in 2004, followed by rapid expansion into 18 additional African markets. Today, as a resilient and future-focused institution, UBA continues to push boundaries by connecting Africa to the world and the world to Africa.
As part of the Group’s plan to expand its global presence, UBA, in January, announced plans to open operations in Saudi Arabia.
Operating in twenty African countries and the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France and the United Arab Emirates, UBA provides retail, commercial and institutional banking services, leading financial inclusion and implementing cutting-edge technology.
United Bank for Africa is one of the largest employers in the financial sector on the African continent, with 25,000 employees and serving over 45 million customers globally.
UBA had announced it would meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new minimum capital requirement of N500 billion by the third quarter of 2025, well ahead of the March 2026 deadline. The recapitalisation is part of a broader initiative by the CBN to strengthen the Nigerian banking sector. UBA has already taken steps towards this goal, including a rights issue and other capital raises.
The Tier-1 bank posted a robust pre-tax profit of N204.27 billion for the first three months of 2025, representing a 30.65 percent year-on-year growth from Q1 2024.
Net profit also saw a strong performance, with profit after tax rising 33.15 percent to N189.84 billion, compared to N142.58 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
