Nib Bank and Huawei Join Forces for Secure, High-Speed Financial Connectivity with Xinghe AI Unified SASE Solution

As digital transformation accelerates across the global banking industry, Ethiopia's financial sector is entering a critical phase of mobile payment expansion and inclusive finance development. Nib International Bank (NIB), one of the country's top ten private banks, is headquartered in Addis Ababa. With more than 400 branches and foreign-exchange service outlets nationwide, along with thousands of ATMs, the bank provides comprehensive financial services to over 1.8 million customers.

Technology-Driven Service Upgrades Make Network Security a Strategic Imperative

As NIB's business scale continues to grow and demand for digital services rises rapidly, its existing network architecture has struggled to keep pace. It falls short of meeting requirements for high reliability, strong security, and efficient operations and maintenance (O&M):

High Reliability: Single-Link Risks Demand an Urgent Backup Mechanism

Core services currently rely on a single MPLS link, with no intelligent backup solution. Any link interruption would immediately halt all operations. Building redundant links and enabling flexible failover to ensure business continuity has become an urgent priority.

High Security: Rapid Branch Expansion Requires Secure Interconnection

NIB plans to open 250 new branches. This rapid expansion places higher performance demands on SD-WAN. Establishing efficient and secure data transmission channels between numerous branches and headquarters is essential to ensure stable and reliable service delivery.

Efficient O&M: Separate Network and Security Management Reduces Event Response Efficiency

Branch sites lack dedicated O&M personnel. Network and security systems are managed separately, requiring cross-platform handling of security events. This significantly limits the timeliness and accuracy of threat analysis and response.

To address these challenges, NIB is actively upgrading its network architecture, strengthening network security defenses, and ensuring business continuity, laying a solid foundation for sustainable growth.

Building an Intelligent Security System: Strengthening NIB's Network Foundation

To meet these business needs, Huawei deployed its Xinghe AI Unified SASE Solution to help NIB build an intelligent security protection system. Leveraging the iMaster NCE unified network and security management platform and the USG6600F/USG6700F firewall series, the solution enables unified security operations across branches and headquarters. This creates a high-performance, highly reliable, and intelligently managed security framework that supports ongoing innovation and business expansion.

Intelligent Backup Link Scheduling Ensures Seamless Service Continuity

To overcome the long-standing reliability bottleneck of a single MPLS link, Huawei's intelligent link switching technology delivers exceptional performance. MPLS and 4G links can switch automatically within seconds, with zero service interruption. This eliminates single-point-of-failure risks and, through flexible backup strategies, provides NIB with a resilient, self-healing branch network, achieving truly intelligent sensing and seamless failover.

High-Performance Converged Gateways Enable Secure Branch-to-HQ Connectivity

With high-reliability, high-performance USG firewalls, NIB gains stable and efficient connectivity between branches and headquarters, ensuring a premium experience for mission-critical services. At headquarters, dual-device hot redundancy ensures network reliability, while a single device supports up to 96 Gbps of SD-WAN throughput, easily accommodating secure interconnection for 250 new branches. This not only enhances network security but also provides ample capacity for future business growth.

Unified Network and Security Management Greatly Improves O&M Efficiency

Huawei's unified iMaster NCE-Campus controller centralizes management of both network and security devices. Compared with the previous multi-platform approach, the Xinghe AI Unified SASE Solution significantly boosts operational efficiency. Deep integration of network and security enables unified threat analysis and response without cross-platform switching, reducing NIB's security OPEX by 80%.

Sailing Toward a Secure, Intelligent Financial Future with Xinghe

The collaboration between NIB and Huawei not only resolves the challenges of large-scale branch expansion but also provides a replicable model for digital transformation across the financial industry. With intelligent link switching, high-performance secure networking, and unified simplified O&M, the Xinghe AI Unified SASE Solution establishes a future-ready, resilient, and secure network foundation for NIB.

Looking ahead, NIB will continue deepening its strategic partnership with Huawei, jointly exploring new possibilities in financial technology innovation and contributing valuable experience to the global financial sector's digital transformation.