The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied planning to nationalise Unity Bank Plc as alleged by an online news medium.
Reacting to the report, the Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, described it as “fake news” and should be discarded in its entirety.
He said: “The report is fake news. There is no iota of truth in it.” He added that the public should disregard such news.
The report had claimed that the apex bank’s target examination of Unity Bank showed that the Tier-2 lender is in ”grave financial condition”, with Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and Non- Performing Loans (NPL) ratio that breached prudential standards.
However, analysts note that just last month, the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) noted in the communiqué it issued at the end of its meeting that the banking industry is in good health.
According to the communique: “the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and the Liquidity Ratio (LR) both remained above their prudential limits at 15.8 and 38.9 per cent, respectively. The Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) at 5.89 per cent in April 2021, showed progressive improvement compared with 6.6 per cent in April 2020.”
Unity Bank’s audited Full Year 2021 results showed improved performance in key parameters. For instance, the Bank’s gross loan portfolio increased by 92.9 per cent to N206.2 billion in 2020 from N106.9 billion in 2019.
The bank’s total assets rose by 67.90 per cent when compared with N293.05 billion achieved in the comparative period of 2019. Also, the lender posted gross earnings of N42.71 billion compared with N44.59 billion recorded in the comparative period of 2019, reflective of its business and economic realities of the time.
