Shareholders of Skye Bank Plc may have more opportunities to increase their investments in the bank as its board is planning to raise a public offer. The bank’s capital base is currently put at N26 billion while the proposed offer would enable the bank to hit the $1 billion mark.

The chairman of the bank, Alhaji Musiliu Smith told shareholders that the bank is planning to raise N50 billion at the initial stage from foreign investors after which, it would approach the capital market for a public offer.

He added that the bank is also planning to increase the number of branches of the bank to 200 and ensure representations in all states of the federation.

"We are focused on growing balance sheet, and in the process, ensure that we become one of the top 10 banks in the country. We will continue to invest in information technology in order to drive business development." "We are confident that the bank can only get better with IT products and initiatives as we continue to reposition the bank in the market place and thus provide impeccable and quality service to our customers," he stated.

Skye bank recorded N21 billion gross earnings at the end of September 2006 financial year as against N6 billion in the previous year. Its profit after tax was N2 billion compared to N493 million recorded previously while total assets grew to N174 billion from N32 billion in the previous year.

However, the bank, according to its Managing Director, Mr Akinsola Akinfenwa was unable to pay dividend for the year because it was trying to clear its books in its drive to the move to remove bad debts, Akinfenwa said that the bank has set up an asset management committee to recover the outstandings.