The global banking community was pleasantly surprised last year, as Access Bank and Diamond Bank officially announced a merger, which has also led to a transfer of all Diamond Bank’s assets, liabilities and undertakings to what is now the continent’s largest bank by customer base, Access Bank.
With the successful completion of the first stage (Day-1) of the integration process, the Bank announced the commencement of the second phase (Day-2), which will end on the 21st of October. While it continues to work on delivering excellent and convenient services, the Bank has also explained that a few customers will experience some changes with occasional service disruptions during the process.
Here are 6 things Access Bank’s customers should expect during and post the integration process:
1. Intermittent downtime in banking services. Pending the completion of the upgrades to the Bank’s platforms by the 21st of October 2019, customers are likely to experience an occasional slowdown of banking services, particularly for online transactions. The communicated timelines for these disruptions include 1:00am – 7:30am (Saturday, 19 October); 2:00am – 6:00am (Sunday, 20 October).
2. Account holders may be required to change their account names when two or more individuals from both banks (Access Bank and Diamond Bank) have the same names. However, the bank will reach out to them directly to resolve this and will not require them to divulge any personal information via phone calls. Hence, all Bank customers are urged to ‘Shine Your Eye’ and beware of fraudsters who may try to take advantage of this process.
3. The account numbers of former Diamond Bank customers may be changed to align with the current CBN directives. However, this will not prevent affected customers from transacting with their old account numbers during the period.
4. Merged transfer option. Upon completion of the integration, the description of transfers made from other banks to Access Bank or former Diamond Bank accounts will only read ‘Access Bank’, rather than the ‘Access (Diamond)’ option the public may have been accustomed to.
5. All interbank transfers will be truly and fully free! Following complaints about customers incurring charges when performing transfers between Access bank and former Diamond Bank accounts, Access Bank has assured that all transactions between such accounts will be at NO COST to the customers. This is a real win.
6. Lightening quick transactions on all mobile platforms. Access Bank has confirmed that following the integration process, transactions performed via its mobile banking platforms will be completed at a blinding speed of about 0.35 seconds. This puts Access Bank ahead of others in combining speed and convenience to banking activities. I doubt there’s any current banking platform that will be able to match this in the near future. The gauntlet has been laid down.
According to the Group Head, Consumer Banking, Access Bank Plc., Adaeze Ume, the Bank is committed to providing solutions for long term prosperity, and the management is working tirelessly to ensure that the second stage of the post-merger integration is as seamless as the first.