UBA to expand presence to 25 African countries
The United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) is planning to expand its presence to 25 African countries from its present 19 by 2024.
The Head, Investor Relations, UBA, Abiola Rasaq, said over the weekend the bank had developed a cost-effective strategy to achieve this plan.
He stated that the bank’s operating licence in some of the African countries allows it to expand into some neighbouring countries without raising fresh capital
“The way we are going to do it this time around is different. Initially, when we went into some of these African countries we operate presently we went in fully as a new bank. In the countries, we are targeting, based on our current strategy and the mapping that we have done, we have opportunity with the licence that we have to move into those countries.
“There are two different types of licences. There is the unit licence and uniform licence. The unit licence only allows you to operate in just one country. In Senegal presently, we have a uniform licence. That uniform licence gives us the priority to actually passport our licence for example into Mali, if we think Mali is right.
“So, our business in Chad presently, holds a uniform licence that gives us the opportunity to passport that licence into Niger Republic if we think the timing is right and there are opportunities in those markets. So, this is a strategy we want to use to go into those markets we are targeting.
“We are using this strategy because we want to be able to sweat the capital we have put in each of the businesses without taking excessive risks in each of the countries. So, with this strategy, we don’t have to raise new capital. This is a lot more cost efficient and we would need little or no capital in those businesses and we are likely to make profit even from year one,” Rasaq explained further.
