At Last, Court Upholds Access Bank, Diamond Bank Merger

By Dipo Olowookere

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has approved the proposed merger between Access Bank and Diamond Bank.

The court sanctioned the coming together of the two financial institutions on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, paving way for the formation of a strong single entity.

Earlier, the two lenders received the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go on with the ‘marriage’.

In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today, Access Bank said, “Having received the final approval of the CBN and SEC to the proposed merger between Access Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc, following the approval of shareholders that was obtained at the respective court-ordered meetings held on March 5, 2019, Access Bank hereby confirms that the court-sanction of the merger was obtained today, Tuesday, March 19, 2019.

“Accordingly, and as had been indicated in the scheme document, the effective date of the merger is March 19, 2019,” the statement read.