Diamond Bank Plc has come up with a new product called Diamond NGN/CFA EasyTrade – an innovative banking solution developed essentially to facilitate payment for goods and services traded between Nigeria and its West African neighbours.

A statement by the Head, Corporate Affairs of the bank, Ms Nkiru Onono, on Saturday, said the new product aimed to limit the risk associated with cash-based transactions for the bank’s customers and other traders transacting relevant cross-border business.

This product is also aimed at capturing transactions currently outside the banking system and in turn, improve the statistics of such trade with other West African countries available to businessmen, financial institutions, interested government agencies and the regulatory authorities for the purpose of planning and policy making.

He said, “Following the signing of the Co-Prosperity Partnership Pact by the Presidents of Nigeria, Benin and Togo that was aimed at encouraging the free flow of goods and services among the sub-Economic Community of West African countries, the need for an effective payment system that would promote and facilitate trade between Nigeria and these countries became of utmost relevance.�

She said the product would add value in facilitating payments for and by our customers and prospective customers involved in intra-regional cross border trade between Nigeria and the countries of the UEMOA zone, especially Benin Republic, thereby strengthening our business relationship with such customers�, Onono stated.

She stated that the bank envisages that goods produced in Nigeria and the UEMOA countries can ride on this product, thereby expanding the market for such manufactured products and promoting industrial development of the countries.

Onono maintained that this product would, to a large extent, facilitate the exchange of naira for CFA and the reverse and help in developing trade between Nigeria and countries in the UEMOA Zone (using our subsidiary location - Benin Republic - as in road for the UEMOA zone) hence promote the convertibility of the Naira.

On the Nigerian side, the product requires an importer of goods from Benin Republic (and by extension, any UEMOA country) to simply pay the naira equivalent of the CFA value of the imports at any Diamond Bank branch in Nigeria by having his account debited. – Punch