United Bank for Africa (UBA) PLC has released its Interim Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, revealing a period characterized by persistent growth in its top line, though profitability was increasingly constrained by accelerating funding costs.
The pan-African banking group successfully maintained its revenue trajectory, recording Gross Earnings of N2.468 trillion for 9M 2025, a 2.96% rise from the N2.398 trillion posted in the comparative period of 2024. However, a sharp rise in interest expense has placed pressure on the core net interest margin.
UBA’s core lending business showed solid performance, with Interest Income climbing to N1.980 trillion in the first nine months of 2025, marking a robust 10.08% increase from the N1.798 trillion recorded in 2024.
However, this growth was severely offset by rapidly rising funding costs. Interest Expense surged by 16.27%, increasing to N808 billion in September 2025 from N695 billion in September 2024.
This steep increase reflects the sustained high-interest rate environment across the bank’s key markets, forcing institutions to pay more for customer deposits and interbank borrowings.
As a result of this pressure, Net Interest Income (NII)—the difference between lending and borrowing costs—grew at a more modest pace of 6.18%, reaching N1.171 trillion, compared to N1.103 trillion a year prior.
According to the report, Fees and Commission Income saw a mild growth of 3.85%, rising by 15.1 billion to close at N407 billion.
Loan Commitments were reduced significantly, dropping from N23.71 billion at the end of December 2024 to N16.56 billion by September 2025, a reduction of approximately 30%. This suggests a cautious stance on future off-balance sheet lending and risk exposure.
UBA was fined N150 million by the CBN for this non-compliance. These fines were typically debited directly from the banks’ accounts with the CBN
Capital Commitments saw an even sharper decline, falling from N11.14 billion in December 2024 to a mere N214 million in September 2025. This substantial reduction indicates the near completion of previously authorized and contracted capital projects, which is expected to reduce future capital expenditure requirements.
