Diamond Bank Headquarters

Diamond Bank Plc Thursday assured that it would continue to support the growth of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

Head Corporate Communications, Diamond Bank, Akpo Daniyan, made this remark during a visit to THISDAY Corporate Head Office in Lagos.

According to her, the commercial bank had given out a total of N80 billion to SMEs in the last 10 years.

She said: “We are a leading bank in terms of support for SMEs. We don’t just give money, we also do training, advice and we organise seminar for the beneficiaries. But we want to do more on the retail banking space. We are a bank that is reliable and provides all the supports that a customer needs.

“Diamond Bank is one bank that supports SMEs. We support with little or no collateral. If you know you don’t have collateral, all you need to have is proof of concept. In other words, you have been in that business for about three years and had succeeded and needs some push to take the business to the next level.”

Daniyan maintained that supporting the real sector  was required to grow the economy. She reiterated that the $70 million seven-year convertible subordinated loan the bank secured from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was a “very strong vote of confidence that Diamond Bank knows what it is doing as well as where it is going.”