The appointment of Loknath, the Banks said, reinforces the Group’s commitment to strengthening its international footprint and enhancing its role as a key financial bridge between Africa and the world.

As CEO of UBA UK, Mishra will focus on positioning the UK subsidiary as a centre of excellence for regulatory compliance and customer service, strengthening financial resilience through diversified liquidity and income sources, as well as deepening UBA’s leadership in trade, transaction, and correspondent banking in support of business flows in and out of Africa.

Mishra brings with him several decades of international banking experience across retail, corporate, investment and transaction banking, with a distinguished track record of building and leading regulated banking platforms in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Before joining UBA UK, Mishra served as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank UK, where he played a central role in strengthening the bank’s presence across the UK and European markets, while significantly enhancing governance, regulatory engagement, and operational resilience.

He also held other senior leadership roles at ICICI Bank Limited, including Group Head of Wholesale Banking and Global Head of Transaction Banking, contributing to the expansion of the bank’s global wholesale franchise, strengthening risk management frameworks, and leading customer-centric transformation initiatives across corporate, institutional and financial institution segments.

Mishra is widely recognised for his leadership in complex regulatory environments and for driving digital innovation across trade finance, cash management and retail banking, and in recognition of his contribution to financial services, he was conferred with the Freedom of the City of London.

Commenting on the appointment, Oliver Alawuba, UBA’s group managing director/chief executive officer, said,

“Loknath brings an exceptional combination of global banking experience, regulatory credibility and deep expertise in wholesale and transaction banking. His leadership will be instrumental in advancing UBA UK’s role as a flagship subsidiary for the Group and in strengthening our capacity to support trade and investment flows between Africa and international markets.”

Alawuba explained that the appointment underscores UBA’s continued investment in building a world-class international banking franchise that supports Africa’s economic integration into the global economy.

On his part, Mishra who expressed delight over his appointment, said,

“I am honoured to join UBA at a time of significant opportunity for the Group. UBA’s unique role in connecting Africa to global markets is both compelling and strategically important. I look forward to working with colleagues across the Group to strengthen UBA UK’s platform and to support clients in unlocking growth across Africa and beyond.”

UBA UK plays a critical role within UBA Group’s international network, supporting African corporates, financial institutions, sovereigns and global partners through its strong capabilities in correspondent banking, trade finance, transaction banking and treasury services.

The bank joined the elite group of companies with N1trillion capitalisation just as its share price value hits N29.90 per share.

At the close of trading on Monday, the bank’s market cap­italisation hit N1,022,562,698,843, making it the 3rd most capitalised financial institution in Nigeria, a remarkable lift from N283.8 billion at the beginning of the 2023.

The bank has 34,199,421,366 shares in issue.

UBA’s N1 trillion market cap­italisation mark comes amid the bank’s share being named as the highest performing stock in the banking sector in 2023, which underscores the bank’s robust growth trajectory and unwaver­ing market confidence.

Specifically, between the start of January 2023 and Monday, the price of UBA shares has appre­ciated by over 250 percent from N7.60 per share.

Tony Elumelu, the chairman, UBA Group, said that the bank’s remarkable journey in 2023 cul­minated with its shares being ac­claimed as the highest performing stock within the banking sector, as he pointed out that this not only highlights the bank’s stra­tegic prowess but also reflects its commitment to delivering unpar­alleled value to shareholders and stakeholders alike.

“As UBA celebrates these sig­nificant milestones, we will like all our stakeholders to know that we remain steadfast in our mission to drive sustainable growth, foster innovation, and create value for its diverse clientele across Africa,” Elumelu said.

“We are witnessing the impact of the business transformation drive UBA embarked on years ago and executed well. Naturally, the market has taken note of and is duly rewarding our efforts. To our stakeholders, our promise is that we will continue to work harder, deliver on what we know how to do well and create impacts across geographies where we currently operate,” he further said.

Oliver Alawuba, UBA’s group managing director/Chief Executive Officer, who expressed delight at the bank’s performance in the past few months, said with its unwav­ering commitment to excellence and execution, the bank continues to set benchmarks in the banking sector, reinforcing its position as Africa’s global bank of choice.

“Market participants have begun to appreciate the latent ca­pacity in UBA’s business model as the bank unlocks enormous potentials in its pan African and international operations. Its unique competitive advantage lies in people, processes, and technolo­gy. With operations and offices in 24 countries and on 4 continents, UBA is the only African bank with deposit-taking licence in the USA. The bank’s fundamentals remain strong with impressive financial results that have contin­ued to deliver sustainable value for its shareholders. At current price, UBA trades at price-to-earn­ing (P/E) and price-to-book (P/B) multiples of 2.27 and 0.59 which are a reflection of the market’s expectations of the bank’s future growth potentials,” Alawuba said.

UBA is listed on the premi­um board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in recognition of the bank’s strong adherence to in­ternational best practices on cor­porate governance and remains committed to creating value for its over 275,000 esteemed sharehold­ers spread across the globe.

The outgone year, 2023, has been a splendid year for United Bank for Africa, becoming the most profitable bank in Nigeria in 2023, with a shareholders’ fund that has grown from 992 billion as at full year 2022 to N1.8 trillion as of September 2023.

UBA was also appointed as the Local Arranger and Local Depos­itory Bank for the $3.3 billion FX liquidity support facility for Ni­geria in partnership with Africa Export and Import Bank (Afrex­imbank), providing solutions to economic solutions in Nigeria characterised by shortage of FX liquidity.

Likewise, in 2023, UBA won the 2023 FMDQ Gold Awards in three categories including the Best FX Liquidity Provider; Dealing Insti­tution of the Year and Best Money Market Liquidity Provider. This recognition is a testament to UBA’s impressive capital strength. (Independent)

Konga, Nigeria’s leading composite e-commerce giant, has been ranked among an exclusive list of 25 companies rated as the best place to work in Nigeria for 2023.

The list, released by professional networking platform, LinkedIn, saw the Konga Group placed in rarefied company with the likes of Ernst & Young, MTN Nigeria and Sterling Bank, among others.

In arriving at the list of companies that made the list, LinkedIn disclosed that it had relied on eight criteria that have been shown to lead to career progression, which include: ability to advance, skills growth, company stability, external opportunity, company affinity, gender diversity, educational background and employee presence in the country.

Equally important, it had revealed that the selected companies all stood out for offering their employees the right environment to grow their careers.

Furthermore, LinkedIn said the methodology factored in key components like how employees are advancing both within a company and when they leave, how they are upskilling while employed there and more, which reveal companies that help set people up to get ahead in their careers. Crucially, it had also considered factors like attrition and layoffs.

“Companies that have laid off 10% or more of their workforce between Jan. 1, 2022, and the list launch, based on public announcements — or that have attrition greater than 10%, based on LinkedIn data — are ineligible to rank,” it said.

The development comes against a backdrop of significant headcount actions among global tech companies and other top brands, with the likes of Google, Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Microsoft, Accenture, Twitter, Netflix, Shopify, Lyft, Apple, Tesla and Zoom, among others, laying off thousands in the face of uncertain economic conditions.

A leader in the Nigerian e-commerce space, Konga was identified by LinkedIn as a company offering a wide range of products, including electronics, fashion, beauty and personal care, home and kitchen appliances, and more.

Acquired by the Zinox Group in early 2018, Konga has risen to the pinnacle of the e-commerce space, carving a niche for itself with its customer-centric approach, pocket-friendly pricing, status as a reliable source of genuine products and its growing ecosystem of thriving verticals which include KongaPay, a CBN-licensed mobile money wallet, Konga Travels & Tours, an online travel booking agency and Konga Health, a digital healthcare distribution company, among several others.

The company has also received regular rave reviews from shoppers and industry experts alike, with the most recent coming via a consumer-focused survey which projected Konga as the most admired and innovative e-commerce company on the African continent.

The survey was published on March 15, 2023, coinciding with this year’s anniversary of the World Consumer Rights Day.

In addition to Konga, other companies ranked in the 2023 LinkedIn report include Interswitch Group, First Bank of Nigeria, Standard Chartered Bank, NNPC Limited, Eko Electricity Distribution, British American Tobacco (BAT), Ikeja Electric, Nestlé, ExxonMobil, AB InBev, UBA Group, IHS Towers, SLB, Halliburton, Shell, TotalEnergies, Tropical General Investments (TGI) Group, Huawei, Wema Bank, Deutsche Post DHL Group and 9mobile.