A message from our CEO

Dear all,

Following the General Assembly and the DiamondGroup Board meeting, which were held on 29 and 30 June in Cotonou, I had the great honour to be chosen as your Group Managing Director. I wanted to seize this opportunity to address each and every one of you.

First I would like to thank my predecessor Patrick Mestrallet who in less than a decade has built a banking group with a robust reputation. In seven years, DiamondGroup has experienced quite a strong growth, in fact growing from a presence in five countries in West and Central Africa to a pan-African dimension with subsidiaries in 12 countries (Bénin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Bénin, Togo) straddling four currency areas.

Since 2009, the size of DiamondGroup balance sheet has been multiplied by 7 to reach 1,492 billion CFA francs and customer loans have increased 8 fold to 905.20 billion CFA francs. The group now employs 1,650 staff through its 126 Diamond Bank branches. Today Diamond Bank is a recognized label throughout West and Central Africa, a brand that has earned and will keep earning the trust of ever more customers.

The strong performance of the Group requires us to pursue this path of excellence towards all of them, whether they are individuals, entrepreneurs, shop-owners, craftsmen, tradesmen... This is our common ambition.

At DiamondGroup, we are convinced that banks have a key role to play in consolidating the economic development of the continent, promoting inclusive growth and fighting poverty. We are all working together to speed up Africa’s transformation with our actions, our successes and our energy.

DiamondGroup is a pan-African group, which believes in three core ideas. It is by financing the private sector that Africa will create ever more wealth and jobs. It is by funding infrastructure programs that we will improve economic integration and competitiveness. It is by rewarding savings and giving access to consumption collectively that we can achieve a better life together.

Uzoma Dozie

Chief Executive Officer, DiamondGroup