Diamond Bank Plc has again raised the bar in trade financing and logistic support by introducing a new product called DLSupport aimed at freeing businesses from the hassles of importation bottlenecks always encountered at the nation’s ports.

Briefing the media on the breakthrough development, Mr. Uk Eke, the bank’s executive director, corporate banking, said that DLSupport “is an import service which caters to the full spectrum of import activities. It handles the trade processing, clearing and local transportation requirements of import transactions enabling us to handle imports from Proforma invoice stage of import transaction to the point of delivery in the importer’s warehouse. It provides the importer with a single point for every aspect of the import cycle.

Mr. Uzoma Dozie, executive director retail banking, relieves what customers of the bank stand to benefit from the new product. He said, “It provides the best of two worlds; combining the services of two industry leaders in the financial and logistic services sectors, Diamond Bank and GMT Nigeria Limited to resolve all aspect of import transactions. This is achieved by leveraging on the combined strengths of these two industry leaders. DLSupport provides the following services, trade processing that is the processing of form M, letters of credit, shipping documents, RAR processing and access to the trade financial services.”

It also includes clearing services, HS code assistance, handling the entire clearing processes, duty payment, managing refundable container deposits, Dozie said.
The deal, according to Mr. Marc Omes, managing director of GMT Nigeria Limited, would lead to increased convenience and improved operational efficiency. The partnership with GMT to handle the clearing and delivery of goods would also allow Diamond Bank to stay focused on its core competence.
“GMT is a reputable logistic company whose client list includes most corporate and multinational companies operating in Nigeria. We have established infrastructure that facilitates prompt and reliable delivery to any location nationwide via well-maintained trucks and the return of containers to the respective shipping lines. We assure Nigerian importers that they will get goods into their warehouse or anywhere else safely and always on time,” Omes said.

The bank’s head, trade products, Mr. Daniel Akumagor, revealed that attached to all these are exceptional service conditions which minimizes the risk of demurrage.
“The service is available for individuals, micro, small and medium scale companies that import goods to meet their business requirements, first time importers seeking to avoid the pitfalls associated with the importation of goods, who seek to simplify their import processes to enable them focus on achieving their core business objectives,” Akumogor said.

He explained that the product,offers the customer a single point of contact, that is the bank, for everything related to the import. While the customer gains cheaper access to industry leading service providers by leveraging on the collective bargaining power of all bank’s customers. The customer has no need to collect shipping documentation and forwarding it to the clearing agent. This is because clearing is handled by logistic giant, GMT, under the supervision of Diamond Bank.

Speaking on the development, Eke said, “Traditionally, Nigerian banks have focused on resolving only the financial requirements of the supply chain leaving the importer and exporter to resolve the logistic aspect of their supply chains which require, customer to deal with the challenges of clearing of the goods from the port and physically transporting the goods to their factory or warehouse.

“However, the clearing of goods from a Nigerian port and the subsequent transportation to their intended destination are quite a time consuming challenges, which often distract the customer from their core business objectives. Since handling the physical movement of good is not one of the customer’s business competences, this aspect of the supply chain passes a significant challenge to businesses who are increasingly distracted from achieving their core business objectives.”

The result, according to him is that Diamond customers are distracted from their core business objectives by having to deal wit the tedious and often frustrating clearing and transportation processes.