Amaka Obiefuna.
Last year, Sterling Bank Plc fulfilled its promise of making 12 of its customers millionaires in the New Sterling Bank Sterling Plus Cash Reward promo. Other winners also emerged in other categories of the promo with a total payout of N80 million. The New Sterling Plus is a new proposition for the retail segment of the market.

The breakdown of winner as shown to newsmen in Lagos at the weekend reveals that: 25 customers went home with N500,000 each, 80 won N100,000 each while over a thousand won N50,000 each.
The newest millionaires are Mr. Ekiwu Daniel of Okpara branch, Enugu of the Bank and Yaya Saidu Habu of Unity Road branch, Kano. They were selected during the El-Malud and Christmas draws via an electronic raffle draw and winners emerged from various parts of the country.
Sterling Bank in a statement signed by its Group Head, Branding and Communications, Mr. Henry Bassey, said the promo was instituted to reward customer loyalty and encourage a savings culture among Nigerians.
The Sterling Bank spokesman who disclosed that the season three of the promo would commence soon, explained that all customers with a minimum balance of N5,000 automatically qualify for the draws with 1 ticket while subsequent multiples of N5,000 result in additional tickets.
He described the Sterling Plus account as a hybrid offering with the promise of many goodies and freebies such as free Lenovo smartphones pre-loaded with cool financial and entertainment applications among others for individual customers.
Mr. Bassey disclosed that the account which can be accessed at any Sterling Bank branch with a minimum balance of N5,000 is the perfect solution for individuals interested in enjoying the benefits of both current and savings account offerings, without the associated cost of running a current account.
He stated that customers with the New Sterling Plus acount will be entitled to a free cheque book, free debit card and free transaction alerts (SMS and e-mails) on their transactions adding that 20 people would win N50,000 every week for a period of one year while 10 people would win N100,000 monthly. According to him, “two people would win N500,000 quarterly and one lucky individual would win N1 million on special holidays; as declared by the federal government”.
He said: “The New Sterling Plus account was developed after an extensive market research to address the need of our existing and potential customers. It is part of the bank’s contribution to boost and encourage savings in the country. The choice of gifts for customers, especially the free smartphones was in consideration of the increasing demand and use of mobile platforms for financial and non-financial transactions in the Nigerian market”.

Remember that the bank has a history of fulfilling promises made to customers.