The story
The British and French Bank Limited (BFB) commenced business in Nigeria in 1948. BFB was a subsidiary of Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie (BNCI) in Paris, which transformed its London branch into BFB as a separate subsidiary. Banque Nationale de Credit and two British investment firms, S.G. Warburg and Company and Robert Benson and Company, held shares in BFB.
Following Nigeria's independence from Britain, UBA was incorporated on 23 February 1961 to take over the business of BFB.
In 1970, UBA listed its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and became the first Nigerian Bank to undertake an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The present-day UBA was established on 1 August 2005 through the merger of Standard Trust Bank, which had been incorporated in 1990, and the original United Bank for Africa, one of Nigeria's largest and oldest banks. The transaction was one of the largest mergers to have been completed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Following the merger, UBA further expanded its brand through acquiring Continental Trust Bank that same year. In 2006, UBA acquired Trade Bank, which was under liquidation by the Central Bank of Nigeria at the time.
UBA had another successful combined public offering rights issue in 2007 and made further acquisitions of three liquidated banks: City Express Bank, Metropolitan Bank, and African Express Bank. UBA also acquired Afrinvest UK, rebranding it UBA Capital, UK. The quest to build a strong domestic and African brand intensified in 2008 when UBA made further acquisitions of two liquidated banks: Gulf Bank and Liberty Bank.
UBA has a broad footprint across Africa and the world. It maintains subsidiaries in the following countries*, listed in the order of their commencement of banking operations:
*UBA maintains a representative office in Paris, France.
From Wikipedia’s article on United Bank for Africa, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5