Group Chief Executive, Intercontinental Bank, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, said the aggressive branch network development of the bank across the country and business expansion across all segments of the economy and abroad are creating more jobs and helping to reduce the growing unemployment in the country.

He said his bank has stepped up its expansion drive since the successful consolidation in 2005, as it intensifies its vision of becoming the No. 1 financial institution in Nigeria and Africa, and among the top 100 in the world. In the last financial year alone he said the bank rolled out seventy new branches, bringing the total number of its branch offices to 300, one of the highest in the industry.

Dr. Akingbola said the new branches are creating thousands of new jobs and huge business opportunities for contractors and local communities.

“Every new branch we open not only helps in shrinking the swelling army of unemployed graduates but creates opportunities for businessmen and women to earn income,” he said.
‘‘In the Financial Year 2007 alone, 2,139 new staff were added to the Group’s workforce,” he disclosed. This figure is expected to double in the 2008 financial year when a lot more new branches would have taken off. The bank’s equal opportunity employment policy, extensive welfare packages and robust training programmes make it the company of first choice for many job seekers in the industry.

In the area of manpower development, Akingbola said over 6,000 personnel went for several training programmes during the year, with a significant number of them admitted into leading European and American business schools. This underscores the bank’s increasing international foray, analysts said would in no distance future make it an exporter of highly skilled labour.

Intercontinental Bank commenced its bold global expansion drive in Ghana in 2006 with the establishment of Intercontinental Ghana Plc. The Ghana subsidiary currently operates in eight business offices in key commercial centers across the country.
Only recently the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of the United Kingdom (UK), one of the strictest financial services regulatory authorities in the world, licensed Intercontinental Bank (UK) Plc. as a full-fledged bank, offering wholesale banking services in the United Kingdom.

According to Dr. Akingbola the bank’s vision is to be in all continents. “More foreign subsidiaries will open soon, to exploit identified business windows in other parts of Africa, America, Europe, Middle East and Far East,” he said.
Intercontinental Bank has set its vision on being a world class financial institution and among the world’s 10 leading banks. Analysts said the bank’s track record of superlative performance over the years puts it in good stead to achieve its vision.

The financial results for the year ended February 2008, recently published by the bank, saw its deposit and assets base rising to a new industry high.
The deposit base soared to N1.05 trillion, an increase of 126 per cent from N468 billion in the previous year, while total assets also recorded a quantum leap to N1.7 trillion, representing a growth of 108 per cent from N823 billion, thus making the bank the first to hit trillion naira mark in deposit and also giving it the No. 1 position in total assets.

Banking industry analysts attribute the unprecedented growth in the bank’s deposits portfolio to robust customer confidence. The customer base has been on the rise since post consolidation.
The bank also recorded a phenomenal growth in gross earnings, which stood at N173.5 billion, an increase of 99 per cent over the N87.4 billion recorded in the previous year. Profit before tax grew by a whopping 102 per cent to N45.6 billion, as against N22.6 billion in 2007, while the capital base rose to N200 billion from N157 billion.