DiamondBankPlc has finally disclosed that it would merge with Nigeria's tier-1 lender, Access BankPlc, to form Sub-Saharan Africa's biggest retail bank. Nigeria'sbanking industry has swung from one model to another between 1999 and 2022.Unlike Unity BankPlc, Heritage Bank, the second Nigerianbank with known negative shareholder funds, ticks all the boxes of a tier 111 deposit money bank (DMB). Pascal Gabriel Dozie, founder of the defunct DiamondBankPlc and former chairman of MTN Nigeria, has died at the age of 85. He died in the early hours of Tuesday, April 8, 2025, just a day before his 86th birthday. Female leaders are transforming Nigeria'sbanking industry, marking a historic shift in gender representation. Adaora Umeoji, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, and Miriam Olusanya are key figures reshaping bankinginNigeria. Uzoma Dozie, the Nigerianbanking scion who once headed DiamondBank, tells Chris Bishop about his digital banking venture. He is the African banker with a sparkle in his eye who believes there is glittering gold in the sprawling, often chaotic, world of Nigeria’s informal economy. In March 2011, he moved from First BankNigeriaPLC to DiamondBank as group managing director/ ex chief executive officer and has led the bank through a major transformation. Upon expiration of his first tenure, DiamondBank renewed his tenure in March 2014 to an additional three years. On Tuesday, Access BankPlc, in a corporate disclosure said it had received the court sanction of its merger with DiamondBank. This means the two entity becomes one. The bank has since expanded beyond Nigeria to other neighbouring African countries (The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia) and in United Kingdom. The bank became listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1996.