Diamond Bank Chief Executive Officer, Uzoma Dozie has confirmed the bank has no plans to raise capital either through equity or bonds.
Dozie made this known on Monday while reacting to a question on the possibility of the bank raising capital to improve on its status.
He said to achieve the development within the banking system, Diamond needs funds and capital. But it has no plan to raise capital from the stock market or anywhere, “there is the need for us to maximize what we have to perform bigger in operations than being big significant impact,” he said.
Recall that the bank had in a notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange in November 2017, stated that it was at the verge of concluding the sale of its 97.07 stake in Diamond S.A for 61 million Euros to Manzi Finances S.A. Diamond S.A. was the bank’s holding vehicle for its West African branches.
The bank’s Managing Director had also indicated last year, that it would shift its focus to retail lending. . Diamond had prior to this being focused on lending to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, but this appears not to have worked. The bank has had to write off over N100 billion in loans.
Diamond bank is currently trading at N2.50 in today’s session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Year to date, the stock is up 70%.