United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Limited (UBA Ghana), a subsidiary of United Bank for Africa Plc, has made steady and significant strides in the growth of its profits and total assets for the financial year-ended December 31, 2012 while drastically reducing its Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio. In its 2012 financial statement, the Bank posted a profit before tax (PBT) of GH¢62.9 million compared with GH¢30.1 million in 2011, representing an incremental growth rate of 108 per cent. In profit after tax (PAT) terms, the Bank grew by 112 per cent from GH¢22.4 million in 2011 to GH¢47.5 million in 2012. There was also an appreciable growth in total assets of 23 percent from December 2011 to December 2012. With this tremendously commendable performance, UBA Ghana has consolidated its position as one of the most profitable banks in Ghana, having achieved a growth in its profits far in excess of 200 per cent in two years. The growth, according to Mr. Oliver Alawuba, the MD/CEO of UBA Ghana, was mainly due to a 79 per cent rise in net interest income over the 2011 level on the back of over 62 per cent increase in the Bank’s loan book, as well as, 41 per cent growth in its investment in Government Securities. Mr. Alawuba observed that the consistent growth in the Bank's performance is attributable to a few things. “Our excellent customer service which has led to a pool of loyal customers who do repeat business with us and give us referrals; our dedicated and hard-working staff who always ensure that our customers are delighted; and our ability to leverage on our parent company’s expertise and balance sheet to seamlessly undertake large ticket transactions.” Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of the Bank, Mr. Charles Appiah, added that UBA Ghana is simply efficient. “We have put in place several cost-efficient initiatives and strong risk management framework that optimize the use of our resources which have resulted in making UBA Ghana one of the best banks in cost-income ratio (CIR) and NPL ratio both of which were 35 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively by 2012 year-end”, he said. The period under review also saw significant improvement in the bank's return on equity and return on assets. Return on equity increased from 32 per cent in 2011 to 50.3 per cent in 2012 while return on assets rose from 5.3 per cent in 2011 to 8.9 per cent in 2012.