Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country have started informing their customers to bank any remaining Diamond Bank cheques they may have before the end of this month when the lenders would stop accepting such cheques.
In an email sent to its customers, FCMB said that as from February 27, 2020, its branches all over the country would stop accepting Diamond Bank cheques. The Tier 2 lender said the move was occasioned by a directive from Access Bank that Diamond Bank cheques will no longer be valid for clearing with effect from March 1, 2020.
The FCMB email reads: “This is to inform you that Access Bank Plc. has directed that effective March 1, 2020, Diamond Bank cheques will no longer be valid for clearing. “Consequently, from February 27, 2020, Diamond Bank cheques will not be accepted at any of our branches.
“For more information, please contact your Relationship Manager.”
It would be recalled that in a move that took many industry watchers by surprise, Tier 1 lender, Access Bank and then leading Tier 2 bank, Diamond Bank had, in March last year, announced that they had received all the necessary regulatory approvals to their merger which they had announced in December 2018. The $235 million deal created Africa’s largest bank by customers (29 million) which began operating under the new Access Bank brand from April 1, 2019. Although both lenders insisted the combination was a ‘merger’, analysts said Access Bank actually acquired Diamond Bank after the Tier 2 lender had struggled since 2016 to bolster its capital following loan losses which forced it to sell its foreign subsidiaries.
This news was Culled from New Telegraph. Click here to view more.
