Access Bank Acquires Diamond Bank

Access Bank has finally acquired Diamond Bank.

Diamond bank had last week announced its plan to drop its international operating licence to focus on national operations.

However, confirming the decision, the bank’s chief executive officer, Uzoma Dozie, in a statement released on Friday said it would cease to operate as an international bank.

“The re-licensing as a national bank supports Diamond Bank’s objective of streamlining its operations to focus resources on the significant opportunities in the Nigerian retail banking market, and the economy as a whole,” Dozie had said.

“The move follows Diamond Bank’s decision to sell its international operations, which included the disposal of its West African Subsidiary in 2017 and Diamond Bank UK, the sale of which is currently in its final stages.

“The change to national bank status also enables the bank to maintain a lower minimum capital requirement of 10 per cent, as against 15 per cent required for international banks.”

Reports from TheCable shows that the bank recorded its worst month in November with share plunging to 0.61k per unit on November 30, 2018.

In agreement with the reports, Diamond Bank Q3 2018 report revealed that the bank was under financial stress with profit after tax falling from N3.9 billion in 2017 to N1.6 billion.