Retail lender, Unity Bank Plc, says it is focused on recapitalisation in light of the prevailing foreign exchange revaluation in the financial system.

Commenting on the bank’s financial statements for the first half of the year, the Managing Director/CEO of Unity Bank Plc, Tomi Somefun, noted that the significant disruptions which characterised the operating environment have impacted the positions of the bank.

She noted that the impact is evident in constraints in income generation on the back of the revaluation of the bank’s net foreign liabilities occasioned by the Naira devaluation during the period.

“In the light of the prevailing FX revaluation in the financial system, what we have is a market-driven impact which is adjustable envisaged from the positive economic outcomes of the government policies in the near term,” she said.

“Be that as it may, the negative shareholders’ fund has improved considerably through the injection of N135billion which moderated the negative shareholders’ fund from (-ve) N275Billion in December 2022 financial year-end to (-ve) N178Billion as at the end of June 2023, after absorbing the FX revaluation loss suffered in Q2/2023.

“We are however, focused on clear-cut plans to close out on our recapitalization programme very soon to enable us do business as expected in the fast-growing markets in Nigeria.”

She further stated that while the bank remains optimistic that the government’s policy initiatives will lead to correction in the market, the bank has accelerated measures to ramp up asset creation and liability generation in the short and medium terms.

The bank is equally driving its retail growth in every segment of the market, expanding strategic partnerships; and growing commercial banking business to develop new and sustainable income lines for the bank.

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It also hopes to pay sufficient attention to fast-paced process automation, cost and resource efficiency, targeted value chain relationships, and product marketing to enhance value creation in the market.

AMCON-backed Unity Bank Plc reported a net loss of N38.9 billion for the first six months of the year in contrast to a net profit of N1.7 billion recorded a year ago, according to its newly issued financial report.

The big blow to earnings bucks the ongoing boom among lenders in Africa’s biggest economy, where a weakening in the value of the naira by approximately 40 per cent in June alone is helping banks that have loans denominated in foreign currency turn in record profits.

The bank, however, grew its deposits to N333.38 billion, representing a marginal increase of 2% compared to N327.42 billion recorded in H1’22 in its Half-Year unaudited financial statement submitted to the Nigeria Exchange Group Limited.

The bank said growth in deposits demonstrates incremental gains by the lender from its commitment to deepening its retail footprint through a well-diversified banking product suite that caters to different segments of the retail market.

Other highlights of the unaudited financial statement include gross income and total assets which recorded N27.5 billion as against N27.4 billion and N512.1 billion from N510.1 billion respectively within the period under review. The net loans portfolio reduced significantly by 31% to N198.6 billion as of 30 June 2023 from N289.4 billion as of 31st December 2022. The Bank’s NPL Ratio remained moderate at below 3% while the liquidity ratio stood strong at over 45%.

Similarly, fees and income commission also witnessed a 10% growth to N3.5 billion from N3.2 billion compared to the corresponding period of 2022, on the strength of its digital banking platforms and customers’ acquisition in the retail space.