Banking
Diamond Bank Elevates Two ETs to EDs, Promotes 950 Staffers
By Dipo Olowookere
In spite of the harsh economic terrain threatening jobs of many employees and hurting the projections of corporate organisations in Nigeria, Diamond Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to continuously safeguard the career growth of its workers.
Recently, two staff members who joined the bank over two decades ago as Executive Trainees were elevated to Executive Directors following regulatory approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This was alongside the Bank’s promotion of 950 members of its workforce.
Diamond Bank’s chief spokesperson, Ms Chioma Afe, said that the Bank places premium value on its workforce and is very passionate about the development of the career goals of staff members that are living the core values of the Bank, noting that job security and career development of staff members have continued to enable the bank deliver quality customer service and strengthen investor confidence in the business.
“Providing unequalled customer experience and delivering superior shareholder value is our core vision; however, meeting this mandate is difficult without the right staff.
“At Diamond, we believe that people are key to providing quality customer experience. That is why despite the hard economic conditions in the country, we are promoting our workers and placing much emphasis on career development of staff members,” she said.
According to the bank, Mrs Chizoma Okoli, Executive Director, Business Development and Mr Chiugo Ndubisi, Executive Director/Chief Financial Officer joined the Bank as Executive Trainees in 1992 and 1996 respectively; rose through the ranks to their current positions on the Board of the Bank.
Commenting on the appointment of Mrs Okoli and Mr Ndubisi to the Executive Management of the Bank, Ms Afe said, “These appointments further demonstrates our devotion to provide a viable platform for our staff to work and excel while grooming them to take on more challenges as they progress within the organisation. We are convinced that Mrs Okoli and Mr Ndubisi will play pivotal roles in the next phase of the Bank’s evolution especially at the Board level.
With these new appointments and promotions, the Bank has strengthened its workforce and fortified its management team, led by Mr Uzoma Dozie, to take on the challenges and opportunities in the business years ahead.
Mr Ndubisi graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Engineering from University of Nigeria, Nsukka and holds a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) from the University of Lagos, Akoka.
He was previously the Divisional Head, Financial Management and formerly the Bank’s Financial Controller. He is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).
He has attended various international and local courses including the Advanced Management Program (AMP) of the Wharton Business School (University of Pennsylvania), Driving Strategic Impact Program of the Columbia Business School and the HSBC International Bankers’ course in London. He is also an alumnus of the Lagos Business School (Pan-African University) Senior Management Program (SMP).
He has actively participated in many projects in the Bank including the various capital raising exercises, as well as the successful integration of the records of the former Lion Bank of Nigeria Plc, which earned the Bank the prestigious ThisDay award for the Best Bank on Mergers and Acquisitions category. He was also involved in the successful implementation of the new banking software (Flexcube) in year 2000, as well as the successful implementation of the new Flexcube version in 2007.
Mrs Okoli is one of the pioneer staff of the Bank and has worked in various roles across the business. She was previously the Head, Corporate Banking Directorate. Prior to this, she served in various capacities as Head, Institutional Banking; Head, Specialized Industries; Regional Manager, Apapa; Divisional Head, National Corporate (Lagos 1) and was the Group Head, Commercial Banking, Adeola Hopewell Group. She is also on the board of Diamond Bank UK and Diamond Pensions Funds Custodian (DPFC).
She is a 1989 Law Graduate from the University of Benin and was called to the Nigerian Bar in December 1990.
She also has an MBA from the Warwick Business School, Coventry, UK. She has attended various courses in Nigeria and abroad, inclusive of the distinguished Advanced Management Program of the Wharton Executive Education, University of Pennsylvania. She is an Alumnus of the Lagos Business School.
“Chizoma’s appointment as an Executive Director is particularly auspicious following our successful corporate restructuring exercise last year. Not only does this appointment demonstrate to our large number of female staff that they can aspire for the top at Diamond Bank; we are convinced that Chizoma’s wealth of experience working across diverse roles in the organisation over the last 25 years will be a vital asset at the Board level,” concludes the statement.
Diamond Bank Plc is one of Nigeria’s fastest growing retail banks, leveraging innovation and technology to enhance customer experiences and drive financial inclusion in what it terms Beyond Banking.
Since incorporation 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.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
In 2025, Access Holdings Plc lowered its operational emissions by 28.47 per cent by growing its green asset portfolio to N92.15 billion, though still far from its N475 billion target.
Details of its 2025 Sustainability Report showed that operational emissions fell to 49,352 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from 57,176 tonnes in 2024, supported primarily by branch solarisation across 263 locations and the deployment of 323 solar-powered ATMs, largely across Access Bank in Nigeria.
The organisation applies the operational-control approach under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, accounting for emissions across its African footprint, with Access Bank representing the largest share.
The report reinforces its strategic shift from scale to value by showing how sustainability is being embedded in capital allocation, risk management, product development and operations.
During the year, Access Holdings deployed N72.3 billion under its Sustainable Finance Framework to eligible environmentally beneficial projects and grew its cumulative sustainability-focused loan book to $1.269 billion.
Beyond environmental outcomes, the report highlights the group’s contribution to inclusive economic participation.
In 2025, Access Holdings extended access to finance to 2,528,117 low-income individuals and onboarded 78,438 new MSMEs onto its financing platform.
Across the institution, 2.8 billion transactions were processed during the year, underscoring its role as core financial infrastructure for Africa’s real
economy. Gender-lens lending also progressed, with 354,156 loans extended to women and women-owned businesses, totalling N67.4 billion, equivalent to 24 per cent of the relevant loan portfolio.
Its Corporate Social Investment programmes reached 2,439,480 beneficiaries across education, health, entrepreneurship and the environment, delivered with partners, including UNICEF, HACEY Health Initiative and the Kenya Forest Service.
Employees recorded 359,500 volunteer hours with 100 per cent participation, while more than 50,000 trees were planted. The group notes that 2025 community figures follow a board-mandated tightening of its impact-measurement methodology and are not directly comparable with prior years. Women represent 49 per cent of the workforce, and the Access Holdings board comprised nine directors with 44.4 per cent female representation. Employee satisfaction rose to 87 per cent against an 80 per cent target, while attrition eased from about 13 per cent to about 11 per cent.
For the second straight year, Access Holdings reported zero material regulatory penalties relating to sustainability and zero cybersecurity breaches.
It mobilised $185.38 million, equivalent to N266.83 billion, in concessional funding from development finance institutions during the year and allocated a sustainability budget of N4.8 billion from profit before tax.
Sales-facing staff in the banking subsidiary carry green-portfolio targets within their individual performance measures, linking strategic sustainability goals to day-to-day execution across governance, strategy, risk management, capital allocation, products and operations.
To strengthen credibility and comparability, the report was prepared using the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, specifically IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, as the primary framework, with the GRI Standards (2021) and the SASB Standards applied as complementary references.
“Our 2025 Sustainability Report reflects the discipline with which we are converting scale into value. We reduced operational emissions by 28.47 per cent,
grew our green asset portfolio to N92.14 billion and extended financial access to about 2.5 million low-income individuals.
“These outcomes show that sustainability is not separate from our business; it is central to how we create value, manage risk and support inclusive growth across Africa,” the chief executive of Access Holdings, Mr Innocent Ike, stated.
Looking ahead, the company promised to deepen the measurable impact of its sustainability agenda, accelerate the transition of its portfolio towards low-carbon and climate-resilient assets, and grow the green asset portfolio towards the N475 billion target.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says it has paid the insured deposits of about 700,000 customers of the defunct Heritage Bank and has commenced the reimbursement of depositors of 46 microfinance banks (MFBs) whose operating licences were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The chief executive of NDIC, Mr Oludare Sunday, made this known on Wednesday during a retreat for members of the House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters in Lagos.
He said the corporation immediately began settling the insured deposits of customers after the CBN revoked the licences of the 46 microfinance banks and appointed the NDIC as their provisional liquidator.
“We are working on those. The CBN revoked the licences, and we were appointed as the provisional liquidator. We have started paying depositors of those banks, and gradually we intend to cover all the insured depositors,” he said.
Mr Sunday explained that the NDIC’s responsibility extends beyond paying insured deposits to recovering outstanding loans owed to the failed institutions and disposing of their assets to generate funds for the settlement of uninsured depositors.
“Our function as liquidator involves the payment of guaranteed sums. Thereafter, we go after those who owe the institutions and have not paid. We also ensure that we sell the available assets and realise their investments towards paying the uninsured portion of the deposits. So, we have started paying the guaranteed deposits. What we are doing now is also realising the assets of those institutions,” he stated.
Although he declined to disclose the exact number of depositors of the failed microfinance banks who had been reimbursed, Sunday said the Corporation was working with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to identify depositors through their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) to ensure seamless payments.
“So, the more accounts we discover, the more payments we make,” he added.
Providing an update on the liquidation of Heritage Bank, the NDIC chief said about 700,000 depositors had already received their insured deposits, while efforts were ongoing to trace other customers whose identities could not be verified from available records.
He attributed the challenge to legacy accounts created before the introduction of the BVN system, as well as incomplete customer records inherited from banks that were later merged into Heritage Bank.
“If you know Heritage Bank, you know it is an amalgamation of several banks, including the acquisition of Enterprise Bank in 2014. So, if you think of banks like Guardian Express and Spring Bank, they are all part of Heritage Bank.
“There are depositors we have not been able to trace, and this is an opportunity for them to come forward. I am sure many of us did the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and may have left some money in an account, but there was no BVN then.
“Even the addresses we had were sometimes things like ‘opposite filling station.’ How do you trace such a person? Once they come forward, and for those we have been able to identify from the institution’s database, we have been paying them,” he explained.
Mr Sunday added that the Corporation would continue to recover outstanding loans and dispose of Heritage Bank’s assets to generate funds for the payment of liquidation dividends to depositors whose balances exceeded the insured limit.
Earlier in his remarks, he described the NDIC as a critical pillar of Nigeria’s financial safety net, stressing the need for stronger collaboration between regulators and the National Assembly as the banking sector responds to recapitalisation efforts and rapid financial technology developments.
According to him, while the ongoing banking recapitalisation programme has strengthened the resilience of financial institutions, it must be complemented by sound corporate governance, effective risk management, strict regulatory compliance and robust supervision to safeguard long-term financial system stability.
He also disclosed that more than 98 per cent of depositors, representing over 281 million accounts across insured financial institutions, are fully protected under the NDIC’s deposit insurance scheme.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Zenith Bank Plc is investigating an incident involving unauthorised access to customers’ data, noting that the breach does not involve financial information and has not compromised its banking services or digital channels.
In an email sent to customers on Wednesday, the bank stated that the incident was part of a broader global cyberattack affecting multiple international organisations across various sectors.
The lender stated that it immediately activated its incident response protocols and intensified its cybersecurity and remediation efforts upon discovering the incident.
“This incident is part of a broader, global cyber-attack targeting multiple international organisations across various sectors. Upon discovery, we promptly activated our incident response protocols, cybersecurity actions and remediation efforts,” the bank said.
The bank reassured customers that its banking services and digital channels remain secure and fully operational.
As a precautionary measure, Zenith Bank advised customers to remain alert to potential phishing attempts and other forms of social engineering.
“As a precaution, we encourage our customers to remain vigilant against phishing emails, text messages, or phone calls, and never to disclose their password, PIN, One-Time Password (OTP), or other security credentials to anyone,” the bank said.
The incident is the latest in a series of cybersecurity challenges facing Nigerian financial institutions, with banks in recent months suspending their social media operations over impersonation and other fraudulent activities.
Earlier in April, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) said it was investigating alleged data breaches involving Sterling Bank, Remita and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Nigerian banks have long been prime targets for cybercriminals because of the vast amounts of customer data and financial transactions they handle every day.
While many attacks have traditionally sought to steal funds, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting personal information, which can be used for identity theft, phishing schemes, account takeovers and other forms of financial fraud.
Cybersecurity threats have increasingly targeted Nigerian banks in recent years. In 2025, Union Bank of Nigeria warned customers about fraudulent websites and phishing campaigns designed to steal login credentials and personal information by impersonating the bank.
In August 2024, Guaranty Trust Bank experienced a domain-related security incident that temporarily disrupted access to its official website, although the lender assured customers that their deposits and banking services remained secure while it resolved the issue.
