10 charts that explain Tony Elumelu’s UBA era 

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

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 and other customers put much more money in UBA

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

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

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

UBA’s profit has increased by 578.33% in the decade ending 2025. That is a fivefold growth, compared with more than eightfold growth in revenue.

A larger top line does not automatically mean proportionally more money reaches shareholders. Costs, credit losses, taxes, and other expenses determine how much of the revenue becomes profit.

UBA remained profitable throughout the period, but the gap between revenue and profit growth shows that becoming a much larger bank also came with a much larger cost base.

6.      Earnings per share increased more than fivefold

UBA’s earnings per share attributable to owners of the parent increased from ₦1.79 in 2015 to ₦9.66 in 2025.

EPS growth over the last decade did not end at its peak. EPS stood at ₦21.73 in 2024 before falling in 2025, as profit after tax declined due to higher loan impairment costs.

So, while the long-term picture shows significant growth in shareholder earnings, the 2025 numbers also show how quickly credit costs can affect a bank’s profitability.

7.       UBA shares became almost nine times more valuable

UBA’s share price rose from about ₦4.32 at the beginning of 2015 to ₦41.65 at the end of 2025. Its dividend payout also increased from 60 kobo per share in 2015 to ₦3.25 in 2024. 

But that run of dividend payments was interrupted in 2025. UBA did not declare a final dividend after the bank had to recognise significant losses on some loans as it adjusted to new CBN requirements on how banks classify and provide for loans. UBA provided about ₦1.02 trillion ($757.99 million) for credit losses in 2025, pushing its bad-loan ratio above the level allowed for dividend payments.

8.      UBA became a much more African bank

UBA expanded its footprint from 17 subsidiaries to 21 over the decade and now operates across 20 African countries and four global financial centres.

UBA’s African subsidiaries have become important contributors to the group’s deposits, lending, revenue, and customer base. Expansions also give UBA exposure to multiple economies, rather than tying its growth entirely to Nigeria, where macroeconomic conditions can quickly become volatile.

9.      Technology became a major cost of doing business

In 2015, the bank reported ₦8.32 billion ($6.18 million) in e-banking expenses. By 2025, e-banking expenses had reached ₦177.37 billion ($131.68 million), with IT support and related expenses at ₦42.96 billion ($31.89 million).

Those two categories amounted to more than ₦220.33 billion ($163.57 million) in 2025. As UBA expanded across countries and served more customers through digital channels, technology moved from being a supporting function to a major operating expense. At the same time, the explosion in electronic payments has transformed e-business from a small revenue line into a core income stream, with UBA’s e-business income growing by 1,212.71% over the period. 

10.   UBA became a $25 billion bank with fewer employees

UBA had 12,770 employees in 2015 and spent ₦57.45 billion ($42.65 million) on employee benefits.

By 2025, its workforce had fallen to 10,821, but employee benefit expenses had risen to ₦123.49 billion ($91.68 million).

On a simple employee-cost-per-worker basis, annual employee benefit expense increased from about ₦4.5 million ($3,340.81) per employee to ₦11.4 million ($8,463.38) per employee. 

That means UBA was spending more than twice as much per employee while employing 15.26% fewer people. The change could reflect higher salaries, inflation, a different mix of employees, higher-skilled roles, or increased benefits. But UBA’s workforce became smaller even as its balance sheet grew to more than 12 times its previous size.

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