Diamond Bank has released its second quarter unaudited financial report for the period ended June 30, 2018 to the management and stockbrokers of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), emphasising its strong focus on the Nigerian market, especially the retail business segment through its digital penetration strategy.

The report showed that the Bank’s digital strategy is paying off as the institution recorded a milestone figure of three million digital customers as well as a significant increase in its mobile platform transaction fees.

Non-interest income of the Bank went up 6.4% to N18.8 billion on higher fees from retail transactions on mobile platform while customers loan volume decreased by 3.6% to N728.7 billion as maturities exceeded new loans during the period but investments in fixed income securities increased 8.0% to N241.7 billion over the same period, according to the report.

Although the Bank’s net interest income reduced year-on-year by 14.4% to N46.2 billion due to lower interest income from loans and investments, and higher interest expense on deposits; impairment charges declined 2.9% to N18.39 billion. The Bank’s profit after tax for the first half of the year stood at N2.2 billion.

Commenting on the result, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Uzoma Dozie said: “At a macro level the Nigerian economy continued to record improvements because of stable, higher than anticipated oil prices. We have witnessed 15 months of expansion reflected in monthly PMI data, but investor sentiment has remained mixed caused in part by the election season factor. We have capitalised on the positive macro environment to sustain interest income in the short run with positive prospects for growth and have made progress in growing non-interest income.

Importantly, we have continued to build awareness of Diamond Bank in the wider financial ecosystem to develop new frontiers in retail banking. Amongst this activity were the Beauty Souk and TechFest events, targeted at entrepreneurs and emerging businesses in the fashion and technology sectors respectively. Our partnership with Lagos Business School’s Enterprise Development Center to support young entrepreneurs continued with the seventh season of the Building Entrepreneurs Today program.

In addition to retail banking, we are investing more resources in our mid-market business banking services to seize the opportunities emerging in that segment. In the second half of 2018, these investments will lead to improved profitability overall.

Despite a tough six months being reported, the outlook for 2018 remains bright for the Bank as we continue to focus on a return to strong profitability and improvement in other KPIs.”