By Alex C
Unity Bank, one of Nigeria’s financial lender said its pretax profit for the first nine months of its financial year jumped 900.3 percent to N12.01 billion ($73.13 million) from N1.20 billion in the corresponding period of last year.
The rise in the bank’s was considerably smaller, increasing by 7.45 percent to N48.77 billion ($296.8 million) from N45.39 billion ($276.2 million) last year.
The Bank had in September raised $117.4 million from sale of shares to existing shareholders in a bid to bolster its capital base and finance working capital as the country’s Central Bank implements stricter international regulations.
The 38.45 billion shares, sold at N0.50 each, was oversubscribed, with the bank to saying it will refund excess subscription monies to shareholders.
One of the very few Nigerian banks headquartered in capital city of Abuja, Unity Bank recently signed a partnership with global communications provider, SkyVision Global Networks Ltd for its satellite-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to connect the bank’s head office to its numerous branch offices nationwide.
With 236 branch offices throughout Nigeria and additional branches planned for the future, Unity Bank requires a robust, reliable and highly secure communications solution.
Recognised as a leading connectivity provider in the region, Unity Bank chooses SkyVision to install and deploy an optimal solution to meet their needs.
The SkyVision VPN solution connects Unity Bank’s core applications – including peripheral applications – to its headquarters, enabling continuous, seamless business operations in its rural area branches.
Fully deployed and managed by SkyVision, SkyVision VPN enabled Unity Bank to connect their LAN sites with no investment in additional infrastructure. The superior technology behind SkyVision VPN offers increased flexibility and enables complete management control.
“As one of the nation’s leading banks and a contributor to Nigeria’s GDP, we needed a viable communications solution we could depend on. After careful consideration, we chose SkyVision due to their outstanding market reputation, specifically in the finance industry and their ability to deliver exactly what we needed. This included installing and managing a highly-reliable system, coupled with dedicated customer service and technical support, which can’t be compared to previous service providers,” Zubairu Atiku, head, IT of Unity Bank said.
SkyVision is highly experienced in providing the African banking industry with reliable network solutions suited to their unique requirements across geographic boundaries, particularly in rural areas.
For over a decade, SkyVision has focused efforts to becoming the corporate communications ‘solution of choice’ in Nigeria, through its establishment of local hubs, PoPs and local presence to deliver quality communications and a high level of service to customers nationwide.