Over the weekend, Access Bank Plc informed its customers that going forward, cheques bearing the logo of former Diamond Bank Plc will no longer be accepted/honoured at the bank.
Why is this happening? According to emails that were sent out to Access Bank’s customers, the decision was taken as part of ongoing efforts to better process customers’ transactions more effectively. The bank explained:
“In order to process your transactions more effectively, we wish to inform you that effective 1st of March 2020, we will discontinue honouring all cheques bearing the logo of the former Diamond Bank.
“This means that from 1st of March, the bank will no longer honour all cheques bearing the logo of former Diamond. This is to enable us to process your transactions faster and more effectively to ultimately serve you better.”
[READ MORE: Access bank to unveil new Face Payment solution)
In view of the foregoing, therefore, customers who are still in possession of the old Diamond Bank cheque books have been advised to visit any Access Bank branch in order to get a new one.
Here’s some backstory: Recall that in 2019, Access Bank finalised the acquisition of Diamond Bank Plc. As part of the acquisition, Diamond Bank customers automatically became Access Bank customer. Ever since, many of them have been using their old banking products, including the now discarded Diamond Bank cheque books.
In October last year, Access Bank announced that it had successfully completed the second phase of its integration. The integration ensured that all of Access Bank’s core banking platforms (including the ones that were inherited from Diamond Bank), were brought together onto a new, highly scalable, and robust platform.
The bank had also assured that the integration would help simplify the process of initiating and receiving bank transfers. This is because customers will no longer need to select between ‘Access’ or ‘Access (Diamond)’ when transacting.
