Fresh off a year of expansion in Francophone West Africa, United Capital is turning its sights to East Africa, with Rwanda serving as its gateway. The Lagos-based investment banking and financial services group, led by veteran investment banker Peter Ashade, aims to build on its recent expansion across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) zone. This push is part of a broader strategy that could push the group’s market capitalization past the $300 million threshold, establishing it among the largest financial institutions on the continent.

The expansion comes exactly twelve months after the group established United Capital Asset Management West Africa Limited in Côte d’Ivoire in May 2025. Over the past year, that subsidiary broadened the pan-African group’s reach across all eight nations in the UEMOA bloc. In a statement reflecting on the milestone, Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu, chairman of UBA Group, Transcorp Group, and Heirs Holdings, noted that the initial entry into Côte d’Ivoire marked a significant operational step beyond domestic borders. Elumelu expressed that after creating new pathways for wealth accumulation and financial inclusion across the Francophone region, the group is ready for its next regional chapter, stating simply: “Rwanda next.”

Expanding financial access across new frontiers

CEO Peter Ashade, who has guided the group since 2018, emphasized that United Capital’s growth strategy centers on expanding financial access rather than merely entering new jurisdictions. Ashade stated that the past year was dedicated to establishing institutional partnerships and smoothing access to investment pools across the UEMOA territory. With the West African foundation securely laid, Ashade expressed that the management team intends to maintain this active corporate building process as they move into the East African market.

To anchor this expansion, United Capital recently finalized the recapitalization of its four core operating units regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The group met these aggressive new benchmarks more than 14 months ahead of the official June 30, 2027 statutory deadline. Notably, the firm completed the capital injection entirely through its internal reserves, bypassing external funding channels or public equity issuance.

These balance sheet adjustments followed strict regulatory changes introduced by the SEC under the Investments and Securities Act 2025. Designed to fortify domestic market stability and increase investor protection, the revised framework increased capital thresholds for operators by 10 to 33 times previous requirements. Despite the steeper compliance hurdles, United Capital’s individual subsidiaries exceeded the new mandates.

United Capital units outperform capital baselines

Recently published reports show the group’s Tier-2 Issuing House division closed with a capital base of N9 billion ($6.6 million), comfortably ahead of the N7 billion ($5.1 million) legal baseline. The Trustees business reported N7.5 billion ($5.5 million) in capital at the end of December 2025, easily clearing its N2 billion mandate.

Similarly, the broker-dealer segment, United Capital Securities, secured N2.5 billion ($1.83 million) against a required N2 billion ($1.5 million) floor. The Asset Management division recorded N13.9 billion ($10.2 million) in capital, outperforming the N10 billion ($7.4 million) Tier-1 threshold mandated for institutional portfolio managers handling asset pools exceeding N250 billion ($183.7 million).

These internal capital allocations match a period of strong financial performance for the group. For the 2025 financial year, United Capital reported a 35 percent increase in gross revenue to N58.55 billion ($43 million), while profit after tax rose 17 percent to N28.15 billion ($20.7 million). Total assets under management during the period climbed past N2 trillion ($1.46 billion).

The group maintained this operational performance into the first quarter of 2026. Unaudited financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2026, reveal a 66 percent surge in net profit, driven by higher fee income and capital gains from its investment portfolios. This performance helped insulate the pan-African group from broader macroeconomic headwinds, including elevated domestic inflation and severe foreign exchange volatility.

Strategic diversification anchors record Q1 2026 gains

First-quarter profit after tax rose to N9.79 billion ($7.2 million), up from N5.89 billion ($4.3 million) in the corresponding period of the previous year. Gross earnings for the three-month period expanded 31 percent to N17.17 billion ($12.62 million). The performance reflects the stability provided by its diversified business model, which comprises investment banking, wealth management, institutional trusteeship, securities trading, and digital microfinance.

A closer inspection of the group’s first-quarter revenue streams indicates an intentional shift toward non-interest income sources. Fee and commission income jumped 72 percent to N7.69 billion ($5.65 million), supported by a growing pipeline of corporate advisory mandates and higher transaction volumes across its wealth management platforms. Net gains on financial assets recorded at fair value through profit or loss rose to N3.57 billion ($2.62 million), up sharply from N435.65 million ($320.3 million) in the prior year’s first quarter.

This surge provided an important buffer against a 24 percent decline in traditional net investment income, which contracted to N4.86 billion ($3.57 million) due to higher interest expenses linked to managed client funds. Furthermore, the group’s share of profits from its insurance associates, Heirs General Insurance and Heirs Life Assurance, more than doubled to N1.57 billion ($1.15 million), validating the firm’s integrated financial services model.