Access Bank’s ambitious top Africa 5 target and Wigwe’s new challenge

THOMAS IMONIKHE

 

Access Bank Plc’s recent declaration that it was raising the bar in financial services by targeting a top five finish in Africa by 2027 and becomes one of the most respected on the continent has triggered intense excitement across Nigeria’s financial sector.

The unveiling too, of the institution’s transformation to a Holding Company with the bank as one of the subsidiaries in line with the changing times and its objective to be the continent’s inspiration to the global community was also reassuring to its over 42million customers, shareholders and stakeholders.

After the merger with Diamond Bank on April 1, 2019, Access Bank Plc had emerged the largest bank in Africa by customer base, and the biggest bank in Nigeria by asset with total assets standing at $25.5 billion (NGN: 10.055 trillion) as at 2021 and more than 28,000 employees.

Unfolding company’s growth trajectory however, and the roadmap to navigate the ever challenging storm in the sector, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank Plc, Dr. Herbert Wigwe, who is transiting to Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, said the bank, which would be one of the subsidiaries aimed to become one of the top five in Africa by 2027.

But financial experts were quick to align the target with the Bank’s Vision, ‘To be the world’s most respected African bank and its Mission, ‘Setting standards for sustainable business practices that unleash the talents of our employees, deliver superior value to our customers and provide innovative solutions for the markets and communities we serve’.

Significantly too, the growth plan coincided with the third anniversary of the bank’s takeover of Diamond Bank (April 1) having formally acquired the latter in 2019.

Elaborating on the transformation in the Group in Lagos last week, Dr. Wigwe revealed that it entailed new appointments and expansion target. “We’re like number 12 on the continent today and we hope to be close to number five by 2027,” adding that the bank had never failed to meet its aspirations in terms of growth in its 20-year history and the projection for the next five years would be pursued aggressively and be met.

According to him, the expectation would see the bank regionalising its presence in Africa with regional offices in Ghana, Nairobi, Botswana, South Africa and Nigeria to creating a much more diversified institution.

The CEO explained that Access was moving to a Holding Company in line with the changing times in which it aims to be Africa’s inspiration to the world noting that “Banking is changing at a faster pace than we can imagine” and technology changing all things.

Anyone who failed to change with the trends he maintained, would suddenly wake up one day to find out he had no business anymore disclosing that the bank was creating strong digital technology in line with its growth to ensure efficient service delivery.

An apparently elated Wigwe assured of the institution’s continued willingness to support the government in making the economy better, just as it played a major role in the formation of the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) to intervene at the height of the global pandemic.

Barely 24 hours earlier, Access Holdings Plc had in a statement by its Group Secretary, Mr. Sunday Ekwochi announced board changes at its banking subsidiary, Access Bank Plc with the appointment of Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank.

His elevation underscores the ‘effectiveness of the Group’s robust succession planning arrangement and follows the appointment of the incumbent, Wigwe, as the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Access Holdings Plc’.

It also announced the appointment of Victor Etuokwu as Deputy Managing Director, Retail North and Chizoma Okoli as Deputy Managing Director, Retail South while the three strategic appointments had been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and will take effect on May 2, 2022

The Board has also approved the resignation of Adeolu Bajomo as Executive Director, Information Technology and Operations with effect from September 30, 2022, following his decision to pursue other personal interests.

Chairman of the Board, Bababode Osunkoya while commenting on these developments noted: “the new appointments reflect the robustness of our leadership succession plan and our decision to considerably strengthen our retail business while harnessing the potentials of SMEs and financial inclusion towards the attainment of group’s strategy.

“The appointees have been selected based on their exceptionally rich, professional, academic, and corporate board experiences, which are all relevant to the needs of our board. We are deeply convinced that their skills will no doubt continue to add significant value to our bank’s quest to become Africa’s Gateway to the World,” he added.

Meanwhile, reviewing the merger with Diamond Bank in an interview with Daily Champion, the National Coordinator of Progressive Shareholders Association, Boniface Okezie said Access Bank has transformed into one of the most consolidated banks in the history of merger and acquisition in the nation’s banking sector.

“Access Bank now has wider out reach both within and outside the country, which made them one of the biggest banks in the country today in terms of balance sheet size. And in terms of shareholders fund, there has been a lot of progress made so far within the space of just three years into the merger.

“Don’t forget that they have also made a lot of progress by going outside to acquire more banks in other countries in Africa. After merger with Diamond Bank, doors began to open for them to acquire more profitable banks into their fold. Today the bank is more or less a conglomerate in the financial industry, they move in when the opportunity beckons on them,” he noted.

Speaking in similar vein, a shareholder activist, Alhaji Olatokunbo Gbadebo said that though “Diamond Bank was in a coma when the merger occurred, but the “little life in Diamond was revived by Access in order to get the best out of the merger.

“I was a shareholder of both before the merger and knows the happenings today in Access Bank, despite the fact that Access Bank made many other moves to increase its pace for progression after the merger with Diamond. Access Bank gave it life and made good use of its high, but untapped strength to project innovational, progressive and long time policy. The merger has been of great advantages to Access Bank,” he stated.

Reacting to Wigwe’s projection for the bank, a financial analyst who craved not to be named said the Nigerian lender has the potential to attain the projected feat based on its existing assets, human capital and financials and above all with the right leadership.

According to him, Access Bank Plc, 2021 Full-year financial result, a post pandemic year when most institutions were struggling to recover from the devastating effects of the disease easily points to its resilience and capacity to achieve the set target.

It revealed a profit of N160 billion in 2021 reflecting a 51.13per cent increase year on year and a reported earnings per share of N4.58, a 52.16per cent growth from the N3.01 reported the previous year. Statistics further revealed that the bank has also grown its profits by 167per cent in four years since hitting N60 billion in 2017 with the profit of N160 billion last year.

The profit performance is on the heels of all margin growth as income from interest, trading income and fees and commission income all appreciated year on year. Total assets are now over N11.73 trillion, more than twice the bank’s total assets in 2018.

He further pointed to the Group’s earlier acquisitions on the continent.

“As of September 2021, in addition to Nigeria, Access Bank Plc has subsidiaries in Mozambique, Zambia, Congo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and in the United Kingdom while it also maintains representative offices in China, India, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates”.

Continuing, the expert declared that this projection by Access Bank reminds me of the inspirational quote by renowned author Catherine Pulsifer that first: “Set your goal, don’t give up when you face obstacles, and stay focused, as the power within is truly amazing. Without goals, you will end up going nowhere, or, you will end up following someone else’s map! Develop your map today – set your goals and focus”.

He further reminded this writer of the Bank’s prior African expansion plan it unveiled last year and identified eight new countries for potential expansion, seeking to benefit from a continent-wide free trade agreement. The target markets are Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Angola, Namibia and Ethiopia, which would extend the international presence of the bank to 18 countries.

Concluding, he asserted that the top Africa projection “is achievable provided the board, management, and employees of Access Bank keep their eyes on the ball, leverage on current cutting edge services and do the needful with the right leadership” insisting that the Group has the wherewithal to meet its set objective with Wigwe in charge given his track record of unblemished service.

 

 

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