By Dipo Olowookere
Following success of its Savings Xtra season 8, Diamond Bank Plc on Thursday in Lagos launched the season 9 of the promo.
During the season 8, several customers, numbering over 1,000, were rewarded with cash prizes ranging from N500,000 to N1 million and a star prizes of Hyundai SUVs.
The colourful event, which attracted some of the bank customers, shareholders, journalists and management staff of the bank, saw in attendance past winners of its regional draws and the latest set of winners from the Lagos draw who were presented with their cheques and also shared testimonials of how Diamond Bank has improved their lives through the Savings Xtra promo.
The winner of the grand prize of a brand new SUV in the Lagos draw, Mr Kingsley Ezeji, was also in attendance to be presented with the keys to his star prize of a brand new SUV.
Speaking at the event, the bank’s Head of Mass Market, Mr Osita Ede, noted that Diamond Bank expected that a total of 1,055 customers will be rewarded with a total of N584 million.
He said, “Every month, 13 customers will win N1 million each, one customer will win N2 million and the luckiest customer will win Salary4Life.
“In addition to the monthly and regional draws, season 9 will have draws for Diamond Woman where 10 female customers will be rewarded and also hold two special draws to celebrate key milestones during the year where 30 customers will win 1m each.”
He said the Diamond Xtra reward scheme was no longer a promo as it had become a part and parcel of Diamond Bank’s efforts at rewarding its loyal customers.
He said it was important to note that the campaign continues because, every month a lucky Diamond Bank customer could emerge as the recipient of Diamond Bank’s “Salary for life” no matter where his or her account was opened.
Officials from KPMG and the National Lottery Regulatory Commission were also on hand to vouch for the authenticity and transparency of the promo.
Also speaking at the event, Mr Kenneth Ukanwa, representing KPMG, the audit firm in charge of the validation process for the promo said the processes put in place for picking eventual winners and even those qualified for the promo was transparent and above board.
He said KPMG was satisfied with the outcome of the past draws as they also ran checks and mock runs to ensure the verification process was authentic.
The first draw of the DiamondXtra Season 9 will take place on January 3, 2017 and to qualify for the monthly draw, all a customer needs to do is to maintain a minimum monthly balance of N5,000 in their DiamondXtra account while additional deposits would count as multiple entries thereby increasing the customer’s chances of winning.
Explaining the concept behind the account and the draws, Aisha Ahmad, Head Consumer Banking, Diamond Bank pointed out that the principal goal of the savings extra account is to promote a savings culture amongst the people.
She further stated that the draws were to reward customers who had religiously operated their Savings Xtra account and stayed true to the concept behind which the product was created.
She concluded by stating that Diamond Bank Plc would not relent in its efforts to create mutually beneficial relationships between the bank and customers through its products, services and offerings.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale