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    Sixteen years after leaving the bank he helped grow into one of Nigeria’s biggest financial institutions, Tony Elumelu has left United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), again. But this time, he is leaving a bank whose assets have grown by 1,106.18% over the past decade, whose customer deposits have grown by 1,051.44%, and whose annual profit has grown by 578.33%.

    On August 21, Elumelu’s 12-year stint as group chairman of UBA, a tier-one Nigerian bank valued at ₦1.97 trillion ($1.46 billion), ended. In that time, UBA expanded its footprint across Africa and made technology an increasingly important part of its business, even as loans grew far more slowly than deposits and its workforce shrank.

    These 10 charts show what changed at UBA between 2015 and 2025, the first and last full financial years of Elumelu’s leadership. 

    1.        UBA became a much bigger bank

    Chart 1 • Balance Sheet Scale

    From ₦2.75T to ₦33.17T: How UBA Scaled 12× in a Decade

    Consolidated Group Total Assets (2015–2025)

    Total Expansion 12.05× +1,106% Growth
    Organic / Deposit-Led
    FX Revaluation Effect
    ₦10T Benchmark (’22)
    Selected Year

    2025

    Total Assets

    ₦33.17 Trillion

    YoY Growth Rate +9.40%
    Multiple vs 2015 Baseline 12.05×

    Click any bar above to inspect specific financial year milestones.

    Source: UBA Audited Financial Statements (2015–2025). Figures represent Consolidated Group Total Assets.

    UBA’s balance sheet grew more than 11 times in a decade.

    The bank had ₦2.75 trillion ($2.04 billion) in total assets in 2015. By 2025, that figure had reached ₦33.17 trillion ($24.63 billion).

    That growth came from a combination of deposit accumulation, lending, investment, and the expansion of UBA’s operations across Africa.

    2.  Nigerians put much more money in UBA

    Chart 2 • Liquidity Scale

    The Raw Material: How UBA Grew Customer Deposits by 1,051%

    Consolidated Group Customer Deposits (2015–2025)

    10-Year Expansion 11.5× +1,051% Growth
    Organic Mobilisation
    FX & Macro Inflation Effect
    ₦10T Benchmark (’23)
    Selected Year

    2025

    Customer Deposits

    ₦23.95 Trillion

    YoY Deposit Growth +11.02%
    Multiplier vs ’15 Baseline 11.51×

    Click any bar above to inspect specific financial year milestones.

    Source: UBA Audited Financial Statements (2015–2025). Figures represent Consolidated Group Deposits from Customers.

    Customer deposits grew by 1,051.44% over the past decade to ₦23.95 trillion ($17.78 billion) in 2025.

    Deposits are the raw material of commercial banking. They provide a bank with the funds to lend, invest, and generate interest income.

    UBA became a bank with a much larger pool of customer money, giving it more capital to deploy across lending, investments, and other income-generating activities. 

    3.       Loans grew more slowly than deposits

    Chart 3 • Core Business Shift

    The Widening Gap: Deposits Outpace Lending

    Loans grew by 575%, but deposits grew much faster. The result? A shrinking proportion of UBA’s funding base is being converted into loans.

    2025 LDR 29.3% Down from 49.8% in ’15
    Customer Deposits
    Loans & Advances
    Selected Year

    2025

    Loan-to-Deposit Ratio

    29.3%

    Customer Deposits ₦23.95 Trillion
    Loans & Advances ₦7.02 Trillion

    Click any bar above to inspect specific financial year milestones.

    Source: UBA Audited Financial Statements (2015–2025). Loans represent Group Loans and Advances to Customers.

    UBA’s loans and advances to customers increased by 575% between 2015 and 2025. That is more than six times growth, but it is significantly slower than the growth in deposits and assets.

    UBA accumulated deposits much faster than it expanded customer lending, meaning a smaller proportion of its rapidly growing funding base was being converted into loans than at the beginning of the period.

    This shows that UBA’s growth has not been a story of lending more money and earning more interest income; rather, the bank’s balance sheet has benefited from a broader mix of banking and investment activities.

    4.      UBA’s income engine became almost 10 times larger

    Chart 4 • Income Engine Scale

    The Revenue Explosion: A 10× Larger Engine

    Total revenue grew by over 880% in a decade. This reflects a larger balance sheet, but also the reality of Nigeria’s high interest rates, inflation, and FX fluctuations.

    Total Growth +881% 9.8× Expansion
    Core Operations
    FX & High-Rate Environment
    Selected Year

    2025

    Gross Earnings

    ₦3.09 Trillion

    YoY Growth Rate -3.04%
    Multiplier vs ’15 Baseline 9.81×

    Click any bar above to inspect specific financial year milestones.

    Source: UBA Audited Financial Statements (2015–2025). Figures reflect Consolidated Gross Earnings / Total Revenue.

    UBA’s total revenue rose by 881.48% between 2015 and 2025.

    The increase shows that the bank’s much larger balance sheet translated into a much larger income-generating business.

    But revenue growth also needs to be read in the context of the economic environment in which it occurred. The decade included major movements in Nigerian interest rates, inflation, and the exchange rate, all of which affected banks’ income and expenses.

    5.       Profit grew slower than revenue

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