Diamond Bank, Access Bank Deny Merger Talks

By Dipo Olowookere

The managements of Diamond Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc have denied media reports on Monday that both organisations were considering coming together to become a strong financial institution in the country.

Diamond Bank has been in the news lately concerning a possible injection of fresh funds into the bank to recapitalise it.

The lender, for the past four quarters, has been recording drop in its profit with revenue also going down.

Some days ago, there were reports that some investors were considering saving the bank from going down on the condition that its Chairman as well as the MD/CEO will forfeit their positions.

Moments after the news broke, the financial institution announced that its Chairman and three other directors have stepped down from office.

This morning, there were reports that Access Bank was in advanced talk with Diamond Bank for a possible acquisition of the latter.

But both companies have denied this, emphasising that nothing of such was in the pipeline.

“The attention of Diamond Bank Plc (the Bank) has been drawn to the rumour in the media stating that the Bank is purportedly in discussions with Access Bank Plc to acquire the Bank.

“We wish to state categorically that the Bank is not in discussions with any financial institution at the moment on any form of merger or acquisition.

“We trust that the above clarifies the position of the Bank with regards to the rumour on the various media platforms,” the Diamond Bank said in a statement today.

On its part, Access Bank said, “Our attention has been drawn to a newspaper report relating to Access Bank being engaged in merger and acquisition talks with Diamond Bank Plc

“We wish to notify the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the general public that the bank has not entered into any such discussions with Diamond Bank or any other institution.

“As a publicly quoted company built on best practice, the bank is fully cognisant of its diclosure obligations in respect of any such corporate action and will always discharge its obligations in the most professional manner.

“Consequently, any statement regarding any such corporate action that is not issued by the bank should be disregarded.”