Grace Ashiru
The United Bank for Africa (UBA), known as Africa’s worldwide bank, has officially opened a new office at Dubai International Financial Center, marking the expansion of its operations into the United Arab Emirates.
The bank has existed for over seventy years and officially has locations in 20 across Africa, as well as in the UK, the US and France.
Dubai Financial Services Authority, the financial regulatory agency of the special economic zone known as Dubai International Financial Center, will be in charge of how the DIFC Branch works while operating under the Category 4 license.
The primary areas of concentration for the UBA branch located in DIFC would be advisory services, relationship management, and correspondent banking. These areas will serve consumers and corporate and financial institutions across the Middle East.
The UBA Group will be able to capitalize on opportunities in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and the Middle East regions as a result of this new development. The MEASA region comprises 72 nations, has an approximate population of 3 billion persons, and has a nominal Gross Domestic Product of USD 7.7 trillion. as a result, it strengthens its strong franchise as Africa’s Global Bank, thereby promoting capital flow and trade between the world at large and Africa.
Tony O. Elumelu, Chairman of UBA Group, gave a speech on Thursday at the launching of the new branch in Dubai. In his remarks, he explained that through the Group’s recent expansion in the Gulf Region, The United Bank of Africa is maintaining its strategic intent to be the most successful financial institution in Africa for conducting business.
He stated that “working with our other franchises in twenty African countries and the major financial centres of Paris, New York and London, UBA, DIFC Branch will make trade deals easier between Africa and the Middle East.
We have highly anticipated this day because it will mark the first time we’ll have a footprint in this part of the world. He said, “We know that our international expansion is unsustainable if we don’t have a footprint in the gulf.”
Kennedy Uzoka, UBA Groups MD and Chief Executive Officer, has stated that the institution is formally present on 4 continents worldwide, conducting business in 24 nations, catering to more than 35 million consumers, and expanding.
We are now the only bank with origin in Nigeria that has operations outside the country in the United Arab Emirates. The persons who arrived before us have travelled via several other regions, demonstrating the power and respect that the authorities in Dubai have for the United Bank of Africa. Uzoka said, “Our presence in Dubai shows that UBA is a successful business that is growing worldwide.”
The business environments and authorities here in DIFC are great, and UBA considers Dubai the gateway to Africa. That’s why we’re here: to get closer to our customers, partner with them, aid enterprises, and trade flow to Africa via the United Bank Africa’s franchise. So, we are delighted.”
