A leading retail bank in Nigeria, Diamond Bank Plc, has launched an innovative banking product, Diamond Y’ello, as part of its financial inclusion programme to reach the unbanked.
The Diamond Y’ello Account (DYA), which is run in partnership with mobile telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria, is a hybrid account that offers the over 58 million MTN subscribers a fusion of financial services and telecoms incentives such as money transfer and withdrawal, account statements confirmation and airtime purchase among a host of available features and benefits.
Speaking at the launch of the account, GMD/CEO, Diamond Bank Plc,Dr. Alex Otti said the Diamond Y’ello Account is part of the bank’s strategic programme to reach the unbanked population with innovative and easily accessible financial solutions.
According to Dr. Otti: “The Nigerian banking industry is over a hundred years old, but as we speak, it can only boast of only about 40 million bank accounts.
In the 14 years of mobile telephony in Nigeria, the telcos have grown a robust subscriber base of 120 million customers and still counting. That is why we decided to partner with one of the trusted and most extensive networks to bring our banking services closer to people who would like to bank with us but are limited by challenges within their environment.”
He expressed confidence that the product will enable the bank to reach out to the millions of people who do not have a bank account, but are connected on the MTN network, which is the largest in Nigeria with 58 million customers.
He further stated that the essence of the innovation was to make banking more accessible to Nigerians.
Otti said: ”To open a Diamond Y’ello account, a customer only needs to have a registered MTN line and by dialing the short code *710#, the subscriber gets a full NUBAN account number delivered by SMS to his mobile phone within minutes.”
The CEO of MTN Nigeria, Mike Ikpoki, disclosed that the Diamond Y’ello idea is driven by a commitment from the bank and MTN to ensure that technology is used to make life easier for people.
Lending his support to the partnership, Dr. Pascal Dozie, Founder, Diamond Bank Plc and Chairman, MTN Nigeria, said Diamond Y’ello is a hybrid account produced by two outstanding companies in their separate industries.