Nigeria’s Diamond Bank, a firm that provides private banking along with other financial services, logged a pre-tax profit of N7 billion (around $46 million), recovering from a loss of N1.3 billion for the first nine months to 30 September 2009.

The bank said its capital adequacy ratio – a key barometer of financial strength – stood at 15.2 per cent; it has a loan-to-deposit ratio of 82.9 per cent.             

“We have maintained our high liquidity and strong capital adequacy positions, with both being well above the Central Bank of Nigeria’s requirements, to support our continued growth. Through the implementation of Project Sparkle we continue to focus on cost efficiency and the Group’s cost income ratio has improved in the last quarter, while staff productivity continues to improve,” said Emeka Onwuka, managing director of Diamond Bank.

Another Nigeria-based bank, First Bank of Nigeria, recently set up private banking operations in London.