On June 26, 2026, Providus Bank and Unity Bank ceased to exist as separate institutions. What replaced them is ProvidusUnity Bank Limited, a newly consolidated commercial bank with 230 branches, an asset base projected to exceed N2 trillion, and a deposit base of over N1.2 trillion. It is the most significant banking consolidation Nigeria has witnessed since the landmark 2005 banking reforms, and it took two years of regulatory approvals, court proceedings, and shareholder votes to get there.
The story of how this merger came together begins in August 2024, when the Central Bank of Nigeria approved the proposed combination of the two banks and backed it with financial support arrangements under Section 42 of the CBN Act. The apex bank was clear about its reasoning: Unity Bank, which had been weakened by the 2016 economic downturn that followed the collapse in oil prices, needed a stronger partner to meet its obligations and remain a viable institution. Providus Bank, which had already met the CBN’s new minimum capital requirements by November 2025, was that partner.
From that point, Walter Akpani, who had built Providus Bank from the ground up, steered the transaction through every stage of a demanding approval process. Shareholders of both banks endorsed the merger at separate Extraordinary General Meetings in September 2025. The Securities and Exchange Commission granted its clearance. The Federal High Court sanctioned the scheme. And when two shareholders attempted to halt the process through a legal challenge that went all the way to the Supreme Court, a five-member panel led by Justice Tijani Abubakar dismissed the appeal as lacking merit and awarded costs against the appellants. The merger was not just approved. It was tested and upheld.
Akpani’s journey to this moment is not a short one. He founded what eventually became Providus Bank after leaving Platinum Bank Limited, where he had served as Vice President of Institutional Banking. Before that, he had been a pioneer staff member at ICON Stockbrokers, contributed to the restructuring of Commercial Trust Bank, and helped establish Standard Trust Bank, now United Bank for Africa. Each of those roles added a dimension to the banker he became. Over three decades in the industry, Mr. Akpani earned a reputation as one of Nigeria’s most capable bank builders, a distinction recognised when ThisDay and Arise named him Nigerian Banker of the Year for 2024.
What ProvidusUnity Bank brings to the market is a combination that makes sense on paper and in practice. Providus Bank built its identity around digital banking, agility, and corporate banking infrastructure. Unity Bank, created in 2006 through its own merger of nine smaller institutions, brought a nationwide retail branch network and deep roots in agricultural financing. The enlarged institution now has the reach of one and the technology of the other, and the task ahead is to make them work as a single, coherent bank.
For the customers of both institutions, the immediate assurance is straightforward. Deposits are safe and accessible, accounts remain active, and services continue without interruption. Akpani addressed this directly in communications to customers, describing the merger as an effort to create a stronger institution with broader national reach and improved digital banking services.
Unity Bank shareholders received N3.18 per share, or the equivalent in Providus Bank shares, under the terms of the scheme. The combined capital base of the enlarged bank exceeds N200 billion, meeting the CBN’s minimum requirement for a national commercial banking licence and positioning ProvidusUnity Bank to compete for larger transactions in sectors like energy and infrastructure that smaller institutions were previously unable to finance.
Walter Akpani has described the transaction as being about more than numbers. At the EGM where shareholders gave their approval, the message from the institution was pointed: this merger is about confidence in Nigeria’s financial system and the creation of an institution with the scale to genuinely serve its customers and the economy. That is the institution Akpani has spent three decades preparing himself to lead.
ProvidusUnity Bank is new, but the experience behind it is not.
Samuel Agboola is a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspaper
