EFInA awards $1.5m grant for Diamond Bank’s project

Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) has awarded an innovation grant of $1.5 million to support Diamond Bank’s project tagged “Diamond Y’ello: Winning the North”, in a bid to deliver financial inclusion to unbanked individuals nationwide.

Diamond Y’ello is a mobile-based savings account launched by Diamond Bank in partnership with MTN to make financial services easily accessible for individuals excluded from the formal banking ecosystem.

The project allows customers with active MTN lines to open a bank account with Diamond Bank from the convenience of their homes and it is expected to introduce additional channels of customer interactions like the interactive voice responder, bill payments platform, card-less Automated Teller Machine, micro loans and insurance.

EFInA is a financial sector development organisation that promotes financial inclusion in Nigeria, with mission is to make the country’s financial system work for the poor.

To achieve this, it works through four pillars- research, innovation fund, advocacy and capacity building and funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Diamond Bank, in partnership with MTN will have agents within each community to conduct deposits and withdrawals on the Diamond Bank account.

However, the grant will enable Diamond Bank target and extend facilities to prospective customers in Northern Nigeria –Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara and Borno states.

Chief Executive Officer of EFInA, Chidinma Lawanson, noted that the Diamond Y’ello account project seeks to drive financial inclusion by addressing the barrier of proximity to financial services through digital financial services and agent banking, while also serving as an effective means of deepening financial literacy nationally.

“This aligns with EFInA’s objectives to increase access to financial products and services to the low income population, especially women,” she said.

According to EFInA’s Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2014 survey, the North East and North West geopolitical zones have more financially excluded people than the other geopolitical zones.

“We look forward to our partnership with Diamond Bank to extend financial services in Northern Nigeria.

“The survey revealed that 57.1 million adults have never had a deposit money bank account, 16.3 per cent indicated that they did not operate an account because commercial banks were far away from them. The study also found out that 42.7 per cent of women are financially excluded as compared to 35.8 per cent of the men. We believe this project will go a long way to correct these anomalies,” she said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank Plc, Uzoma Dozie, said the Diamond Y’ello is structured to make available affordable financial services to everyone regardless of their level of income.

“Diamond Y’ello is an account you open without the documentation and other rigors associated with traditional accounts. We are aware that the future of financial inclusion is digital, and we aim to use this product to bring banking to everyone no matter your income, where you live or the type of mobile handset you are using,” he said.

According to him, Diamond Bank expects that the initiative will provide easy access to a broad range of financial products to the under-banked population and designed according to their needs, at an affordable cost.

With Diamond Y’ello accounts, customers are able to make all types of payments, save and make retail collection, microcredit and insurance transactions.

Through grant, EFInA aims to promote financial inclusion through market development by enabling provision of appropriate financial products and services at an affordable price to those who are currently financially excluded.