Tony Elumelu

LAGOS, 28th April, 2008

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a joint press Release today announcing a US$15 million civil penalty against the New York Branch (NYB) of UBA for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

As a matter of record, the infractions about which the OCC and FinCEN are concerned stem from anti-money laundering violations (AML) that predate the existing management and Board of UBA.  The existing UBA management self-reported their suspicions in 2005 and committed to resolving them in cooperation with the US authorities.

In January 2007, the OCC issued a Consent Order detailing what internal controls needed to be implemented by the UBA NYB to ensure compliance with the BSA.  During an examination conducted in November 2007, the OCC determined that the measures taken by the NYB to comply were not yet sufficient.  This examination culminated in a revised Consent Order issued in February 2008.  As part of the February 2008 Consent Order, a penalty of US$15 million has been imposed.

UBA is fully committed to improving risk management practices across the Group and in particular meeting our obligations under the BSA.  In close consultation with PwC, we have implemented a BSA/AML program that we continue to strengthen and assess in line with market and regulatory developments.   The OCC is due to examine the NYB’s compliance again in October 2008 and we are confident that we will have conclusively met all of their requirements at this time.

UBA would like to assure all stakeholders that we do not anticipate any material impact on our financial performance and profit forecasts for 2008 due to the revised Consent Order.