Apart from beefing up the human capacity, the Bank deployed cutting edge digital mobile technology, which reduced cash cycle and consolidated its hold on the MSME segment while still growing its corporate market. According to the Bank, these have helped in expanding its local market share and deepened its global reach.
To align with current business realities and point the future direction of its service delivery, Diamond Bank also refreshed and renamed some of its financial products.
The Chief Executive Officer, Uzoma Dozie, affirmed that although the industry is going through numerous challenges due to a lot of internal and external influences such as the slump in crude oil price in the international market, foreign exchange volatility and regulatory headwinds, Diamond Bank is continually on the lookout to optimize new opportunities for growth presented by these realities.
“Our growth drive begins from the inside as we have put in place a human capacity development system that ensures that we attract the best people in the business, train them to be able to perform at the best level in their jobs and motivate them well enough to stay with us. We are aware that the future of banking is digital and Diamond Bank is recognized for its innovative value added solutions that have changed the banking system to suit the customer lifestyle. These include Diamond Mobile App, Diamond Y’ello Account, Diamond Xclusive and Beta Proposition.”
According to the CEO, the Bank recognizes the place of MSMEs as the engine that catalysis economic production and therefore, will continue to deepen the market segment by improving MSMEs stakeholders’ access to funds, market and advisory services.
“We are well recognized for our commitment to the MSMEs and even play an advisory role to government and many development partners in this regard. We currently do business with over 500,000 MSME customers in the key areas of access to financing, access to markets and advisory services. We also provide them with specialized technical support from institutions such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Women Banking, European Development Agency and others. These, we are leveraging on for our future growth” and consolidation.
KPMG, a leading global advisory and consultancy firm, in its recent survey, ranked Diamond Bank among the three best in Nigeria in the customer satisfaction index (CSI).
The survey elicits feedback from customers and stakeholders across the retail, SME and corporate banking segments. It is a reflection of the levels of satisfaction and expectation of customers with respect to service delivery from their banks.
As a “systemically important bank” in Nigeria, the Bank has continued to maintain its global relevance as a financial service provider. Diamond Bank has maintained its position as the fastest growing retail Bank in Nigeria with over 24,000 agent network, and over 5.3 million credit & debit cards on issue.
Currently, Diamond Bank has close to 10 million customers with over two million customers downloading, registering and using its mobile app for financial transactions, thus making it the leader in mobile banking in Nigeria.
Diamond Bank’s Capital Adequacy and Liquidity Ratios as presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange for Q1, 2016 were put at 16.2% and 52.4% respectively (above the 15% and 30% respective statutory requirement). Total assets for the Bank stood at N1.8 trillion, Gross Loans & Advances of N844billion, Customers Deposits of N1.3trillion and Shareholders’ Fund of N220billion.
In the recently released 2016 Ratings Review of Nigerian Banks, Flitch, the global credit ratings group, affirmed the Bank’s strong fundamentals at 'B' Rating, with Stable Outlook for Short-term and Long-term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR).
The 'B' IDR Rating indicates that Diamond Bank has the capacity to meet financial commitments, subject to the country’s business and economic environment; while the 'BBB+ (nga)' National Ratings denote a “moderate default risk relative to other issuers or obligations in the same country”.
According to Fitch, the strong regulatory capital ratios of the Bank have helped offset the one-off impact from the devaluation arising from Nigeria's new FX regime.
Since incur poration in December 1990, Diamond Bank has challenged the market environment by introducing new products, innovative technology and setting new benchmarks through international standards. Today, Diamond Bank is best placed to respond to changing lifestyles and is leading the digital transformation in response to these societal shifts. Diamond Mobile app, for example, is Africa's leading banking app and the first with the touch ID feature.
Analysts and industry insiders are optimistic that Diamond Bank will beat the performance forecast for the business year as the management focuses on its retail-led strategy, which has positioned it for a long-term benefit that will meet and exceed shareholders’ expectations.