Abuja - Dr. Yerima Ngama, the Executive Director of Diamond Bank, in Abuja said that the bank’s shareholders’ fund had risen to about N120 billion since its re-capitalisation in 2005.
Ngama said that the bank had N31 billion shareholders’ fund at the end of the banks’ re-capitalisation exercise in 2005, instead of the N25 billion benchmark set by the CBN.
Speaking at the first draw of the Bank’s “SavingXtra” project, Ngama said that the shareholders’ fund was N60 billion at the time the bank was listed on the London Stock Exchange last year.
He said that the bank made a profit of N16.7 billion in 2007. Ngama said the bank had set up the “SavingXtra” project to encourage savings and investment for its customers operating savings account.
He said the project was part of the bank’s policy to promote the savings culture among Nigerians.
According to him, once a customer has up to N10,000 in his or her account, the customer automatically qualifies for the draw.
Ngama said that some lucky customers could win cars, Apple Ipods, TV sets, air conditioners and generating sets.
Mr. Garry Marsh, the Bank’s Senior Adviser on Retail Banking, said that the bank had set aside N200 million for this year’s draws.
“All you need is to have at least N10,000 in your savings account and you automatically qualify for a ticket every month and a computer will randomly pick the winners,” he said.
Marsh said that N5 million would be given to winning customers every month, adding that the bank was ready to make millionaires out of its 1.9 million customers.
Reports say that 14 winners emerged after the first draw.
One of them, Latifat Idowu, won N1 million cash prize, while Racheal Akuben, a customer of the Jos branch, won a Toyota Yaris salon car.
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