Banking
Access Bank Produces More Millionaires with DiamondXtra Promo
By Adedapo Adesanya
More winners emerged on Wednesday from the ‘DiamondXtra Save More Win More’ promo put in place by Nigeria’s top financial institution, Access Bank Plc.
At the presentation of prizes to lucky winners by top executives of the bank in Lagos, the company’s Head of Products, Insights, and Capability, Mr Robert Giles, noted that the promo, in its eleventh season, has made 10 more people millionaires in the month of July alone.
“We have given over N5 billion out to winners. So, we are actually transforming lives not in the short term, not for one month, or three months, this is 11 years of making millionaires,” he said.
Business Post reports that in Lagos, Stanley Igwe, Chimezie Nworah and Samuel Ebu won N1 million each, while Olusina Fadare from Ogun State got N1 million as one of the winners yesterday.
Other winners of N1 million at the DiamondXtra savings scheme on Wednesday were Amos Tochukwu from Abuja, Oluwadamilade Alese from Edo State, Orugbala Anna from Rivers State, Stephen Nwachukwu from Oyo State, Ejekwu John from Rivers State and Agu N.A from Abia State.
Mr Giles, while speaking on the improvement made by the bank on the draw, emphasised that the needs of customers were taken into consideration, which brought about other consolation prizes like the Salary4Life, education allowances, rent allowances amongst other cash rewards available for customers to win.
He further stated that the promo has been very successful for the bank because it has brought about satisfaction to its customers which in turn is a major advantage to the company.
“Customers who use DiamondXtra stay with us a lot longer. They do more with us because effectively, our customers get rewarded for doing something they were doing before, and in addition to keeping your money safe, we also give people the opportunity to get a prize that is transformational,” he informed newsmen.
Speaking on the volume of customers on the DiamondXtra platform, Mr Giles said there millions of depositors partaking in the promo. “We have millions of customers now on DiamondXtra. So, we are no longer counting in hundreds of thousands but it is a couple of millions now.”
On the bank’s plan for customers who reside in rural areas to enjoy some of the bank services, the top banker said, “We are investing in USSD to make services accessible to customers across the country. You can now do all of your banking transactions from 99 percent of the country.”
He announced that the bank has expanded from over 600 branches and has over 20,000 agents across the country that will ease the process of making transactions, noting that this would be made known to the public on a date to be later communicated.
Some of the winners present at the event included Stanley Igwe and Samuel Etiosa Ebu, expressed their delight at being the newest millionaires in Nigeria with the help of Access Bank through the ‘DiamondXtra Save More Win More’ promo.
They commended the bank for the initiative and called on more of its kind ahead of the next one in August.
The ceremony also had in attendance Adaeze Ume; Head, Consumer Proposition; Bridget Ekeogu; Regional Sales Manager; Njideka Esomeju; Regional Sales Director; Chioma Afe; Group Head, Retail Marketing, Jacob Danjuma; Head, Consumer Liabilities, and Chiamaka Odunze; Head, Retail Marketing.
By Adedapo Adesanya
First Holdco Plc has commenced a public offer to raise about N1.4 trillion (approximately $1 billion) after securing approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The offer, which opened on Monday, involves the sale of 10.4 billion ordinary shares, according to the chief executive of its banking subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr Olusegun Alebiosu.
The capital raise follows the company’s earlier plan to transfer about a quarter of its shares to RC Investment Management Ltd., which served as a bridge holder after Barbican Capital Limited exited its investment in the lender amid a prolonged ownership and leadership dispute.
First Holdco had previously indicated that the shares would eventually be offered to the investing public once the necessary regulatory approvals were obtained.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Alebiosu said proceeds from the offer would strengthen the capital base of First Bank and support the holding company’s expansion strategy.
According to him, the group intends to diversify beyond banking by establishing an insurance underwriting business and a fintech services company.
“The sale is starting today — the reality here is that I am not sure it will stay more than one week based on the pressure we are getting,” Mr Alebiosu said, expressing confidence in strong investor demand.
Investors appeared to respond positively to the announcement, with First HoldCo’s shares climbing as much as 5.9 per cent to a record high during trading on Monday before easing to a 3.1 per cent gain at N133.60 by early afternoon in Lagos.
The lender has been one of the best-performing banking stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited over the past year, with its share price rising more than fourfold since July 2025, when Barbican Capital’s stake was transferred to RC Investment Management.
The fresh capital injection comes as its largest shareholder, Mr Femi Otedola, continues to strengthen his stake in Nigeria’s oldest bank. With the billionaire holding around a 26 per cent stake in the company, analysts say he has his eyes set on full control once his equity crosses the 30 per cent mark.
By Adedapo Adesanya
One of Nigeria’s top digital banks, PalmPay, has appointed a former executive of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Mr Samuel Oluyemi, as its chief operating officer.
In his new role, Mr Oluyemi will oversee the financial technology company’s operations in Nigeria, where it offers a broad range of digital financial services to individuals and businesses.
Mr Oluyemi will also engage with regulators to ensure the company’s expansion aligns with Nigeria’s financial, digital and social inclusion objectives.
Prior to joining the company, Mr Oluyemi spent more than two decades at NIBSS, where he served as business development lead.
During his tenure, he drove the development of several critical payment infrastructure projects, including the digital validation of Nigerian international passports, e-Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS), and the Electronic Pensions Contribution Collection System (EPCCOS).
Also, he played a key role in the introduction and early adoption of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform, Nigeria’s first real-time interbank transfer system launched in 2011, and later supported its extension to other financial institutions.
Mr Oluyemi obtained a master’s degree in Monetary Economics from the University of Ibadan and has participated in several local and international professional training programmes.
Commenting on the appointment, Managing Director of PalmPay Nigeria, Mr Chika Nwosu, said that the company was strengthening its leadership team to support its longterm vision.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Africa’s most valuable fintech, Flutterwave, has signalled that its long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) remains firmly on the back burner as the company intensifies efforts to transform itself into a licensed financial institution across the continent.
The firm’s chief executive, Mr Olugbenga Agboola, said the firm is focused on building sustainable profitability, diversifying its revenue streams and expanding its banking footprint before considering a stock market listing.
Speaking to The Africa Report, Mr Agboola described an IPO as a future financing milestone rather than an immediate strategic objective.
“An IPO is a financing event, not a strategy,” he said. “We are not holding any pressure to go public. This gives us the flexibility to be patient and ensure when we do list, we’re doing so from a position of strength.”
The comments come as Flutterwave embarks on an acquisition-led expansion strategy aimed at securing banking licences and deeper regulatory access across Africa.
Mr Agboola revealed that the company is currently in the process of acquiring a bank in East Africa, though he declined to disclose the institution or country involved.
The planned acquisition is expected to provide Flutterwave with an established customer base, existing banking infrastructure and regulatory approvals, significantly shortening the time required to enter new financial services markets.
According to Mr Agboola, the company’s expansion priorities include Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt, while the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia remain under consideration for future growth.
Rather than building banks from scratch in every market, Flutterwave intends to adopt a mix of acquisitions, licences and strategic partnerships depending on local regulatory conditions.
“The vision is not to form a bank in every country but to ensure that every African business has access to more than financial services,” Mr Agboola said in the interview.
The banking push follows recent regulatory and corporate developments, including the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval of Flutterwave’s banking licence and the acquisition of open banking startup Mono.
Together, the moves underscore a broader strategy to expand beyond payments and establish new revenue streams in lending, liquidity management and business banking services.
Flutterwave plans to focus on institutional deposits from businesses already using its platform rather than competing aggressively for retail deposits.
The company intends to leverage transaction data from its payments network to provide short-term working capital, merchant financing, invoice discounting and trade finance products for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Mr Agboola disclosed that the bulk of the capital earmarked for banking operations will be directed toward credit support and liquidity buffers, with additional allocations for lending and banking infrastructure.
The strategy reflects a growing trend among African fintech firms seeking banking licences to reduce dependence on traditional financial institutions and gain greater control over settlement, liquidity management and product development.
Despite speculation about a near-term public listing, Mr Agboola maintained that Flutterwave’s immediate focus remains execution and growth.
He noted that the company will only consider an IPO after achieving stronger profitability and establishing scale across its payments, banking and remittance businesses.
In February 2025, he told Bloomberg that Flutterwave would only pursue a public offering after becoming profitable. He also stated in late 2024 that the company was “not in the IPO race.”
Founded in 2016, Flutterwave has processed more than one billion transactions valued at over $40 billion across 35 African countries. The company recently secured fresh funding that lifted its valuation to $3.3 billion, with American blockchain firm Ripple leading the investment round.
For now, however, Flutterwave appears more interested in building the foundations of a pan-African financial institution than rushing to the public markets, positioning banking expansion as the next phase of its growth story while keeping an eventual IPO firmly on the long-term horizon.
