Global Credit Ratings, GCR, has affirmed Union Bank of Nigeria Plc national scale ratings of BBB+(NG) and A2(NG) in the long and short term respectively.
The ratings, placed on Rating Watch, are valid until January 2018, GCR said in a statement issued last week.
GCR speaking on the development, said Union Bank maintained a relatively stable market share of 3.6 percent (in terms of total assets), ranking UBN among Nigeria’s mid-tier banks.
After its recapitalisation in 2012, the bank embarked on a transformation journey to become one of the country’s leading mid-sized banks by 2018, a strategy management actively pursued in FY16.
Total shareholders’ funds grew 10.1 percent to N271.7 billion at FY16.
However, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio (CAR) declined to 13.3 percent (FY15: 15.3 percent), falling below the regulatory minimum of 15 percent.
CAR was impacted by an increase in risk weighted assets, caused by naira devaluation during the period.
To strengthen capitalisation, management is in the process of raising additional capital of about N50 billion by way of a Rights Issue. This is expected to be concluded before the end of FY17.
The bank’s gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio remained relatively stable at FY16 (6.9 percent vs. 6.7 percent at FY15), but above Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) tolerable limit of 5 percent.
Specific provision coverage of impaired loans reduced to 40 percent from 44.6 percent at FY15, while total coverage stood at 182 percent at FY16.
Management continue to focus on NPL recoveries, amidst a tightening credit risk granting criteria. Total recoveries as at 1H FY17 stood at N1.7 billion.
UBN’s regulatory liquidity ratio ranged between 33 percent and 44 percent throughout FY16, and averaged 40 percent (FY15: 45 percent) for the period, against a regulatory minimum of 30 percent.
The bank’s liquid asset to short term funding ratio declined to 21.5 percent (FY15: 23.9 percent), albeit comparing favorably with peers. Liquidity across the industry was impacted by increase in banks’ cash reserve ratio during the period.
