According to Moody’s, a global advisory services company, Diamond Bank failed because of three factors: bad leadership, ineffective risk management, and Board problems. For the Board, it cited lack of independence and high turnover in the Board. Pulse first reported this though it did not provide the direct link to Moody’s report.Typically, such reports require subscriptions.
Diamond Bank had been acquired by Access Bank. Before the bank lost N9 billion in 2017, it made N28.5 billion in profit in 2013. That was a very fast deterioration in the bank.
Few weeks ago, I received a Notice that a court had ordered a meeting for Access Bank shareholders. In that meeting, we would vote for the “merger” of Access Bank and Diamond Bank. Of course, there is nothing really a “merger” in this: Diamond Bank logo will exit, forever. That vote had come and gone – the shareholders approved the merger of Access Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc, both Nigerian banks.
The letter by SEYI BICKERSTHETH which was made public by Proshare basically explained all before this Moody’s work. If you have time, read that letter, available here.
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Specifically, we became aware of and validated the existence of a November 15, 2018 letter from the Chairman of Diamond Bank Plc to The Committee of Governors, Central Bank of Nigeria which shed more light on the information already in the public space and provided background information (context) on what truly transpired in the bank’s board sessions.
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