Diamond Bank Slashes COT for MSME

Diamond Bank yesterday announced a slash on its Commission on Turnover (COT) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise businesses in the country, beginning from October 1, 2009

Under the new proposition for MSME, according to the bank's Senior Adviser Retail Banking, Garry Marsh, Micro businesses operators can now pay N1,500 per month on COT, for up to N 4 million per month and free cash deposits of up to N 0.5 million per day while Small businesses owners have their COT fixed at N3,000 per month on a monthly turnover of N 12 million per month and the free cash up to N 1 million per day.

For medium enterprises, the monthly fixed fee, according to Marsh would be N 6,000 with free turnover of N 40 million per month and free cash per day of up to N 2 million.

"For this price, our customers can have free turnover of up to N 4 million per month and free cash deposits of up to N 0.5 million per day. Based on our research, these limits should be more than sufficient for more than 80% of businesses in Nigeria. So more than 80 per cent of businesses can have banking for only N 1500 per month....or to put it another way, N 50 per day! It is worth noting that this fee is only 50% of our existing monthly fee on our Business Xpress Account so more than 80 per cent of our existing business customers will see a reduction in their cost of banking, starting tomorrow", he said

He said the new propositions would help to facilitate business growth and enhancement and support the development of the wider MSME sector, ultimately having a positive impact on the development of the Nigerian economy.

He said: "There are more than half a million registered companies in Nigeria, but two thirds are thought to be inactive. There are over one million business names registered in Nigeria but setting up and operating a MSME business in Nigeria is very challenging and more difficult than in peer countries including India, China, South Africa and Indonesia.

In a 2008 report from the World Bank on Investment Climate the top constraints on MSME development included electricity shortage, poor transport as well as low access to finance and formal banking. Whilst many Government and Non Government Organizations tackle the earlier issues, our proposition being launched today will tackle the latter element".

Marsh said business customers who take the opportunity would benefit from web sites with business email addresses which the bank would open for each of them free of charge, improving their professionalism and increasing their visibility and sales, regular local networking events within a city/state - bringing like-minded people together to improve business and transaction flow, quarterly educational business development seminars on relevant business matters in Abuja and Lagos - improving knowledge, managing risk, increasing marketing skills, a specially written guide for business owners, helping them to better run their business - in a book and compact disc

The other benefits include access to loans for the purchase of assets or overdrafts to support cash flow as well as credit cards.

Related terms: bank, banking, book, business, china, economy, electricity, email, finance, government, india, indonesia, investment, local, marketing, networking, nigeria, research, retail, sales, south africa, web