UNITED Bank for Africa (UBA) has been fined a total of N149.65 million for failing to comply with banking regulations set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), according to findings by The ICIR.

Details of these penalties were included in the bank’s audited financial statements for 2024, which were made public on Monday, March 24.

Analysis of the report reveals that UBA was penalised for several different breaches.

The largest fine, N122 million was for not having proper documentation and up-to-date information for customer accounts and transactions. The bank also received a N16 million fine related to customer complaints that were resolved by the Consumer Protection Department.

Analysis of the report shows that UBA was penalised for various contraventions.

The bank received a fine of N122 million for inadequate documentation and update of customer account and transaction, and N16 million for consumer complaint resolved by consumer protection department.

Further penalties included N9.65 million for submitting its cyber security self-assessment report late, and N2 million for wrongly selling personal travel allowance to two customer accounts.

Separately, The ICIR previously reported that UBA, along with eight other banks, was fined for not making enough naira notes available through ATMs during the last Christmas period.

In that instance, the CBN fined UBA N150 million, as part of a total of N1.35 billion levied against the nine banks, for hoarding cash from customers.

The CBN stated that this fine followed repeated warnings to ensure that cash was readily available, especially during times of high demand.

…N1.14 billion lost to fraudsters

UBA’s financial statements released on Monday also showed that the bank lost N1.14 billion to fraudsters. This involved fraudulent activities totalling N4.904 billion, carried out around 29,359 times.

Electronic fraud cases were the most common, occurring approximately 29,322 times, followed by fraudulent transfers and withdrawals.

Other types of fraudulent activity included cash theft/suppression, cash theft, and dry posting.

This indicates that UBA’s losses to fraudsters increased by 23 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Additionally, the bank received a total of 3,210,708 complaints, up from 2,946,318 in 2023. The total amount claimed in these complaints was N262.87 billion, higher than the N178.09 billion claimed against it in 2023.

As of the end of the 2024 financial year, 643,719 complaints remained unresolved, compared to 15,375 carried over from 2023.

The pan-African bank stated, “We understand that to effectively serve our customers, we must have the capacity to resolve customer complaints and generate insightful feedback to improve customer experience and support product, channel and process development and innovation.”

Update: The headline and lead of the report was updated to reflect that the numbers are in millions and not billions.