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. This time, however, 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 tenure as group chairman of UBA, a tier-one Nigerian bank valued at ₦1.97 trillion ($1.46 billion), came to an end. During that period, UBA expanded across Africa and made technology an increasingly important part of its business, even as loans grew far more slowly than deposits and the 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

From ₦2.75 trillion to ₦33.17 trillion: How UBA scaled 12x in a decade

Consolidated Group Total Assets (2015–2025)

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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. For a bank, that kind of balance-sheet expansion is more than a headline number: it usually determines how much business the institution can support, how much risk it can absorb, and how much room it has to generate income in different markets.

2. Nigerians put much more money in UBA

The raw material: How UBA grew customer deposits by 1,051%

Consolidated Group Customer Deposits (2015–2025)

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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. The size of that deposit base also helps explain why the bank could expand even when lending did not keep pace at the same rate.

3. Loans grew more slowly than deposits

The widening gap: Deposits outpace lending

Loans grew by 575%, but deposits grew much faster. The result is a shrinking proportion of UBA’s funding base being converted into loans.

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UBA’s loans and advances to customers increased by 575% between 2015 and 2025. That is more than sixfold 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. That distinction matters because it helps explain how the bank could grow so quickly while still maintaining a large share of its resources in assets other than loans.

4. UBA’s income engine became almost 10 times larger

The revenue explosion: A 10x larger engine

Total revenue grew by over 880% in a decade. This reflects a larger balance sheet, but also the reality of Nigeria’s high interest rates, inflation, and foreign exchange fluctuations.

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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. In practice, that means headline growth in banking revenue does not always reflect only bigger lending activity; it can also mirror broader changes in the operating environment.

5. Profit grew slower than revenue

Revenue grew 8x, but profit grew 5x

A larger top line does not mean proportionally more money reaches shareholders. The gap between these bars shows the expanding cost of running a pan-African bank.

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UBA’s profit increased by 578.33% in the decade ending 2025. That is 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. For readers tracking bank performance, that gap is often where the real story sits: it reveals how much of a bank’s scale is being converted into bottom-line earnings.

6. Earnings per share increased more than fivefold

The vulnerability of profit: EPS peaks and drops

Earnings per share (EPS) grew more than fivefold over the decade. However, the steep drop in 2025 highlights how quickly credit impairment costs can erode shareholder value.

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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. That makes earnings quality as important as earnings size when assessing how durable a bank’s gains have been.

7. UBA shares became almost nine times more valuable

9x value growth, interrupted returns

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 in 2015 to ₦3.25 in 2024, before regulatory adjustments interrupted the run.

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.

For investors, this is a reminder that a rising share price and a growing dividend history can still coexist with periods when regulatory and credit-quality pressures constrain payouts.

8. UBA became a much more African bank

UBA’s centre of gravity shifted from Nigeria to the rest of Africa

Nigeria’s share of the bank’s financial assets fell from 71.0% in 2015 to 38.2% in 2025, while the rest of Africa rose to 51.4% to become the majority.

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. The expansion also gives UBA exposure to multiple economies, rather than tying its growth entirely to Nigeria, where macroeconomic conditions can quickly become volatile. That wider footprint helps explain why UBA’s decade under Elumelu was not just a Nigerian banking story, but a regional one.

9. Technology became a major cost of doing business

Digital banking is booming, but the margins are collapsing

UBA’s electronic banking income has skyrocketed over the last decade. However, the combined costs of e-banking expenses and IT infrastructure have tracked that growth almost perfectly, eating into profits.

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 growth in electronic payments 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.

The numbers show how digital banking has become central to modern banking economics: it can generate new income, but it also requires sustained spending on infrastructure, support, and security.

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

Doing more with less: 10-year workforce breakdown

UBA’s workforce shrank by 15.26% between 2015 and 2025, but total employee benefit expenses surged as inflation and digital operations demanded higher-cost talent.

Workforce stabilized at 10,821 staff. However, group employee benefit expenses hit ₦376.27 billion.

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.