By Peter Egwuatu
Shareholders of Union Bank Nigeria Plc have commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for  the ongoing reforms in the banking sector which has started yielding results in the bank.

The shareholders equally commended the new management and Board for their untiring efforts to move the bank forward despite the daunting challenges, noting that it was already on the path of recovery and profitability as indicated in its unaudited September 30, 2010 results.

They applauded the banking reforms initiated by the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and stressed on the need for the staff and other stakeholders to see reasons and cooperate with the bank’s management, led by Mrs. Funke Osibodu, as Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, as they had good intentions for the Bank.

Shareholders of Union Bank  approved the bank’s reports and accounts for the financial years ended March 31, 2009 and December 31, 2009 at the 40th and 41st Annual General Meetings held in Maiduguri, Borno State recently.

The shareholders called on the management to pursue debtors aggressively with a view to recovering the Bank’s debt and urged management to fast-track the Bank’s recapitalization, saying the process was imperative, if Union Bank must be reckoned with both locally and internationally.

They further advised the Board and management to endeavour to address all issues related to the staff and pensioners to ensure sustained industrial peace and stability of the bank.

According to the reports, the bank’s total deposits for the nine-month period increased from N758.39 billion at the end of March 2009 to N782.043 billion in December 2009, representing a growth of three percent.

Gross earnings for the bank fell by 24.6 percent from N129.182 billion in March 2009 to N97.381 billion in December, largely due to re-classification on non-performing loans. For the Group, gross earnings fell by 22.3 percent from N146.301 billion in March 2009 to N113.680 billion in December 2009.

Also, loss before and after taxation increased from N66.918 billion and N71.052 billion in March 2009, respectively, to N285.37 billion and N286.168 billion in December 2009 respectively.

The loss figures increased due to the substantial provisions that were required to cover loan losses, unfunded staff related obligations, unreconciled differences in the books and previously unbooked expenses.

In her review, Mrs. Osibodu said that the Bank had accelerated the rejuvenation of the workforce during the  review year by employing new staff across different cdres and had also identified 55 branches in different locations across the country that were being developed as model branches for the Bank.

She assured the shareholders that the future outlook of the Bank was bright and expressed confidence that the changes being implemented in the Bank would yield the desired results such that the shareholders would begin to reap good returns from their investments in the Bank in the near future.

Alhaji Umar Adamkolo Umar, who represented The Shehu of Borno at the meetings, praised Union Bank for holding its Annual General Meeting in Maiduguri, the second bank to do so in so many years.