Skye Bank Scales Up Investments, Organises Essay Competition

Skye BanK, which recently acqured the Mainstreet Bank has declared a profit before tax of 46.7 per cent from N19.65 billion to N9.74 billion.

It has also increased its retained earnings by 70.6 per cent from N19.73 billion in the 2013 financial year to N33.7 billion in 2014.

These achievements have contributed to swelling the bank’s total equity to N132.26 billion from N121.4 billion, nine per cent rise.

Speaking on the bank’s success, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo, said, “ in spite of the challenging operating environment, the bank carefully grew its risk assets portfolio, attained a 15.7 per cent growth in deposits, supported customers in critical and productive sectors of the economy and declared a fairly decent profit.”

He noted that the recent acquisition of Maintreet Bank, which has resulted into a much larger franchise of over 450 branches, provides the bank with enhanced capacity to provide easier access to its teeming customers and to explore various opportunities in diverse segments of the economy.

As part of its plan for this year’s Children’s Day celebration and the bank has instituted the Skye Rainbow Essay competition for children, who operate the bank’s Rainbow Account.

According to a statement issued by the bank, the topic of the essay competition is ‘The Importance Of An Early Savings Habit.’ Okoli stated that the five winners that will emerge will each be N200,000 richer, while other consolation prizes would also be presented.

She said the competition is open to both new and existing Rainbow account holders, whose age ranges between seven and 12 years, adding that the length of each entry must not be more than 200 words, and warned that any entry which shows parental input would be disqualified.

According to the statement, the essay must show the child’s good understanding and good presentation of the topic, the child’s personal savings experience and creative ideas for savings.

The essay competition, which started on April 20, will end on May 18, while shortlisted winners would be announced on June 1.