By Chinwendu Obienyi
The primary objective of commercial banks is profit maximization which is attained by offering a wide variety of services to individual and business customers.
It is also a known fact that commercial banks hold an important position in the economic development of any nation as regards accelerating the capital formation rate within the country and encouraging saving habits among people.
Many banks have played big roles in agriculture funding and entrepreneurial development, while some have gone directly close to individual customers by giving them opportunities to win prizes that turn around their lives and also expand the financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). DiamondXtra by Access Bank Plc is one such initiative.
DiamondXtra is an interest yielding hybrid account which allows deposit of both cash and third party cheques. The DiamondXtra initiative was launched in July 2008 by the now defunct Diamond Bank as SavingsXtra to encourage savings and reward its loyal customers, and follow-ing a repositioning of the product in 2013, the name of the reward scheme was changed from SavingsXtra to Dia-mondXtra.
So, when the merger between Access Bank and Diamond Bank took place in 2018, there were fears that the savings ini-tiative would no longer be on. But, much to the surprise of Nigerians, the initia-tive has come to stay and still stands as the longest reward scheme with the Access Bank going one step after another to make the scheme stronger and better.
As at the last count, the promo has attracted over 2.5 million customers with over 22,000 directly impacted by the promo. Now in the 13th season, the promo will run for 12 months and will feature its recurring salary for life, Business Grant, Free Rent, education grant and different cash prize categories from its monthly and quarterly draw. Furthermore, the bank is said to be targeting over 2000 customers with special attention given to women.
How to participate
The promo is aimed at rewarding loyal customers for choosing digital channels, giving them the opportunity to win cash prizes for performing transactions daily using the Access Bank USSD code *901*5# or the Accessmore App.
What an existing customer needs to do to benefit from the promo is to increase their DiamondXtra account bal-ance with a minimum of N5,000 every month, while new customers are expect-ed to open a DiamondXtra account with a minimum of N5,000 and start growing their balances.
Every N5,000 in the DiamondXtra ac-count gives the customer a ticket in the draws so the more multiples of N5,000, the higher their chance of winning.
N5 billion cash prizes won so far
Commenting on the scheme, the Executive Director, Personal Banking of Access Bank, Victor Etuokwu, said the bank has been rewarding and changing the lives of its customers for 12 years, and are excited to launch the 13th season of this amazing scheme.
He said: “The DiamondXtra reward scheme is one of the ways the bank creates value and meets the needs of its loyal customers. With the launch of this new season, the reward scheme has been revitalised and reloaded to create winners every day.
DiamondXtra is one of the most successful deposit products in the country, as it, not only encourages customers to save their money, gain interest on their savings, but also rewards them as they keep saving, with life transforming prizes like Salary 4 Life, Business grants, education grants and so much more”.
On his part, its Senior Banking Advisor, Retail, Mr. Robert Giles, said, ‘From the very beginning, Diamond Xtra was designed by our customers themselves. They told us that the return on savings was small, yet the reason to save was to transform and improve lives.
Since that initial launch, we have shared over N5 billion of prize money through daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly draws. We have given out education grants, business grants and salary for life. Season 13 was designed by over 600,000 customers who were surveyed to inform them of the changes they want to see. Our customers said they want to keep a salary for life, a business grant and free rent.”
Winners recount
Speaking to Daily Sun via telephone chat, Season 11 winner in the category (Rent for a year), Nwoko Chibuikem, who won N1 million said he has been banking with Access Bank for about six years now and added that he did not initially believe in the reward scheme.
He said: “I remember I kept on saving money in the DiamondXtra account when my bank branch personnel told me about it. Then on a Monday morning as I was on my way to even pay for my house rent, I got a call from Access Bank telling me I had won the rent for a year (N1 million). I first thought it was all games till I was directed to pick my prize up, I, thereafter, knew it was not a dream but reality staring me in the eye. I have since been encouraging my friends and associates to partake of this initiative and I want to thank the bank for this initiative as it really helped me as at that time”.
Season 10 winner in the category (Education grant for 5 years), Richard Anyanwu, recounted that when he was told about the initiative by his branch, he continuously deposited huge sums after opening his DiamondXtra account.
He said: “When the call came in, I did not panic, I immediately knelt down on my knees and thanked God. I was training my son in the University at the time and even sent him to represent me because he is meant to benefit from the scheme.”
I thank Access Bank for coming up with this initiative and I hope to win again too.”