One of Nigeria’s oldest financial institutions, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc on Monday reported a 33 percent rise in its gross earnings to 112.8 billion naira ($709 million) for the financial year ended December 31, 2012.

Its full year results, released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, showed the bank’s pre-tax profit jumped to 7.9 billion naira ($50 million), up from a loss of 102.6 billion naira ($646 million) the previous year.

Operating expenses improved for the bank as it recorded 66.5 billion naira ($420 million) in expenses as against 73.2 billion naira ($463 million) in 2011.

According to a local newspaper, Union Bank’s capital adequacy, at 20 percent, was above the 15 percent regulatory requirement for international banks, while liquidity ratio was 96 percent –  also above the 30 percent requirement.

Union Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Executive, Mr. Emeka Emuwa, said: “Our 2012 results have fully incorporated all costs relating to the recently concluded recapitalisation and clean up of our loan portfolio. We are pleased to enter the new financial year on an encouraging note.”

The Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Mr. Oyinkan Adewale also expressed delight stating: “We are happy to report the improvement from year-end 2011 to year-end 2012 in most performance measures.

“We recorded an increase in our earnings, worked to keep costs down and at the same time made efforts to increase productivity. While the full benefits of these efforts may not be immediately obvious, we are happy with the indicators that we are moving in the right direction.”