Union Bank of Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Emeka Okonkwo recently increased his stake in the bank by acquiring 2,431,917 shares of the bank on Thursday, May 6, 2021.
Emeka Okonkwo was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank in April 2021. He joined Union Bank in 2013 as an Executive Director to lead the Corporate Banking and Treasury business.
According to the disclosure statement signed by Sonuyiwa Sonubi, Company Secretary/General Counsel, Union Bank, the transaction took place at the Nigerian Exchange Group in Lagos, Nigeria.
The CEO purchased 2,431,917 shares at N4.90 a unit, thereby increasing his holdings in the financial institution by N11,916,393.30.
Possible Acquisition by financial institutions from Africa and the Middle East?
In another vein, Bloomberg made a disclosure that the Zenith Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc – are among the list of financial institutions from Africa and the Middle East that have indicated an interest in the acquisition of Union Bank Plc and other African assets of Atlas Mara Group, a Pan-African banking group.
Union Bank released its audited financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2020.
Selected financial highlights of the bank are as thus:
- Profit before tax: up 2.8% to N25.4bn (N24.7bn in FY 2019).
- Profit After-tax: up 1.2% to N24.7bn (N24.4bn in FY 2019).
- Gross earnings: down 1.9% to N156.9bn (N159.9bn in FY 2019).
- Net operating income after impairments: up 8.3% to N103.4bn (N95.5bn in FY 2019).
- Net interest income before impairment: up 10.1% to N56.9bn (N51.7bn in FY 2019) due to reduced interest expenses.