Ecobank Inaugurates Diaspora Account As part of efforts to affirm its role as the leading pan-African Bank, Ecobank Nigeria has launched Diaspora Account, a product designed for people who work away from their home country. Speaking at the launch event, Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Jubril Aku, represented by Dele Alabi, the Executive Director, Finance and Risk, said Africa Diaspora Account satisfies the need for a bank account back in your home country and country of residence. He said: “At Ecobank, we ensure that our role in financial intermediation impacts the everyday life of the customer. This we do by creating special windows that support our customers’ daily living. “This is the reason behind the conception of the Africa Diaspora Account. This special product is targeted at the African professional who works outside his or her home country and demonstrates the Ecobank passion for providing convenient, accessible and reliable financial products and services for all our customers wherever they may be in the world. “Africa Diaspora Account satisfies the need for a bank account back in your home country and country of residence. It is an excellent product for the man or woman, the engineer, the medical doctor, the teacher who has left his home country to work in another country, and is determined to provide for those at home. At Ecobank we say the ‘African in Diaspora is a HERO’”, he added. The Executive Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Kingsley Aigbokhaevbo, also speaking about the vision behind the Ecobank African Diaspora Account revealed that “African immigrants living and working outside their home countries have been on the increase from year to year. Typically, the African Diaspora follows a discernible pattern – a drift from developing economies to relatively stronger economies. This trend is also now pronounced within Africa in the form of economic cooperation amongst member states of ECOWAS and the rest of Africa. This, no doubt, is facilitating movement of goods, services and labour mobility.” According to the Product Manager, Africa Diaspora Account, Vivienne Ijomah, the account is a multicurrency deposit liability and transactional product which facilitates creation of banking relationships with African migrants within and outside Africa. Given the immediate and future scope of Ecobank Africa Diaspora Account, we will roll out the product in two phases “Phase one (which we are now experiencing) focuses on Africans living in Africa but outside their home country, that is, those living within Africa. We have the capacity to do an end-to-end processing of a non-resident account through Ecobank designated branches in our affiliates. Phase two will focus on those living outside Africa. She noted that Ecobank Diaspora Account is targeted at Africans working away from home, especially Embassy staff of countries where Ecobank is represented; staff of international organizations and multinational companies with regional presence across Africa.