Herbert Wigwe: Driving Bold Transformation

Obinna Chima writes on the expected benefits of Access Bank’s transition to a holding company

With the changing face of banking globally, operators are constantly looking for ways to ensure that they maintain relationship with their customers. Additionally, with digitisation transforming business models and processes in new and greater ways, banks are innovating and adopting models that would enable them achieve competitive advantage.  

One of such innovative models is the holding company (Holdco) structure which some forward-thinking bank chief executive officers in the country have made their organisations to embrace. Access Corporation (formerly Access Bank) is the latest in the league of HoldCos in the financial services sector.

Under the new re-organisation, Access Corporation now serves as the parent company for the group and its subsidiaries are: Access Bank Group; Access Payco Group; Access Lendco; Access Insureco; Access Real Estate, and Others (e.g., ecommerce).

Over the past 26 years, Access Corporation has evolved from an obscure Nigerian Bank into a world-class African financial institution. Today, the financial institution holds one of the five largest banks in Nigeria in terms of assets, loans, deposits and branch network; a feat which it achieved through a robust long-term approach to client solutions – providing committed and innovative advice.

Access Corporation has built its strength and success in corporate banking and is now applying that expertise to the personal and business banking platforms it acquired from Nigeria’s International Commercial bank in 2012. The past two years were spent integrating the business, investing in infrastructure and strengthening the product offer.

As part of its continued growth strategy, Access Corporation is focused on mainstreaming sustainable business practices into its operations. The institution under the leadership of Herbert Wigwe, strives to deliver sustainable economic growth that is profitable, environmentally responsible, and socially relevant.

From a tiny bank in 2002, Wigwe who took over from his close friend and business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, in 2014, has completely transformed then commercial bank which was ranked 65th among 89 banks operating in the country then, to a financial supermarket.

“So, what the Holdco strategy allows us to do is to begin to look at new markets and new opportunities that a traditional bank cannot offer. So for us, we are setting up a lending company. It must create its own customers outside of what exists in Access Bank to compete for market share.

“So, there would be a lot more financial inclusion, a lot more lending to young people, a lot more ease in terms of opening accounts, among others. The traditional banks are very heavy in terms of cost and expectations, compliance, etc, but what this type of institution does is that it provides the opportunity to support the mass market already, whether it is a pay day loan, you want to fix your car or buy a car.

“Now our payment company, which is the PayCo, is one that would be supporting our Business-to-Business and Business-to-Customers relationship, customer-merchant acquisitions, etc. It is going to be settling payments across the continent. It is not just about Access Bank, they are also going to create a global access payment gateway to ensure that payments are settled not just within Nigeria, but across the entire continent.

“What PayCo does for us is that it would enable us have in-roads into businesses where didn’t have capacity. I will give you an example, today if you use your Access Bank mobile phone, you can make payments to anybody and anywhere in the world. So, what we are trying to do is to push and support payments, whether it is by way of trade, diaspora remittances across the entire continent.

“Our insurance brokerage business is to help us preserve monies that ought to be paid to other firm. And the final one is our pension company. Obviously, because of our size and our platform and the opportunities, we are going to be playing big in the PFA market.

“All of these things are complementary and the bank is going to build on all of these things to get the full benefits of the HoldCo and the different investments. Obviously, things around agility, taking advantage of the scale of the parent company which is Access Bank are important, managing talents are also very important.

“If you take technology for instance, most of the talent in that market don’t want to work in traditional banks. So, what we have done is to create a structure where we can take them, train them and create a proper career path for them for the benefit of the entire group,” Wigwe explained.

Wigwe, who is the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Access Corporation, is one of the most respected bankers on the continent, without a shadow of a doubt.

Indeed, he clearly understands that without embracing change and having foresights, banks would not be able to compete and would be left behind by their peers. This, would definitely impact customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and revenue growth negatively.

This was why he continuously ensured that Access Bank under his watch grew to become one of Africa’s leading financial services groups. He has shown a relentless pursuit for growth, but in a measured and calculated manner.

Wigwe has helped to develop some of Africa’s biggest companies in the construction, telecommunications, energy, oil and gas sectors through Access Bank.

The CEO of the financial institution strongly believes in the vast opportunities across Africa, which was why he aggressively drove its expansion.

According to Wigwe, Africa has enormous potential and there are opportunities for an African bank that is well run, that understands compliance and has the capacity to support trade and the right technology infrastructure to support payments and remittances, without taking incremental risks.

Access Corporation, which builds on Access Bank’s scale and ethical standards has portfolio companies with significant complementarities, allowing the ecosystem to walk with customers across their life cycle while delivering value to stakeholders.

Wigwe said: “We have set our sights on and delivered ambitious plans to transform the African financial services sector over the last 20 years. Until now, we have concentrated on banking, with the goal of becoming the World’s Most Respected African Bank.

“Our banking subsidiary is now Nigeria’s largest bank by assets and Africa’s largest in terms of customer base.

“It is now time for us to take the next transformative step, where we provide our customers with beyond banking services delivering new interconnected financial services across customers’ needs.”

The Corporation would comprise verticals cutting across banking, payments, consumer lending, insurance brokerage and asset management.

Access Bank Group would continue to operate in Nigeria and through its subsidiaries and business offices in Africa, Europe, and Asia. These businesses, when combined, would position Access Corporation to provide banking services, including intra-and inter-Africa trade, consumer lending, payments services, and insurance services to our customers, thereby improving wealth diversification and preservation.

Looking ahead five years, Access Corporation is expected to be a leading financial and ecosystem player, with services spanning B2B and B2C marketplaces, B2B services, health, housing, digital, mobility content, mobility, core banking offerings, and other financial services such as insurance and wealth management.

Wigwe added: “We recognise and embrace the change that is currently happening and, as we have previously demonstrated, we will lead. Access Corporation will be a driving force in the ongoing digital revolution to the benefit of our stakeholders.

“This transition will allow us to offer more career development opportunities across portfolio companies for our employees, allowing us to attract and retain the best talent in an increasingly global marketplace.

“We will unlock more value for our customers by focusing on distinct business opportunities with high growth rates globally, such as payments and consumer lending.”

Indeed, the focus of Access Corporation is to become an aggregator in Africa and it is building a global payment gateway and providing trade finance support and correspondent banking across the continent.

The approach is that in any country it is present, it would have the right skills and it would not just be a drop in that country, but would make sure it has impactful presence in each of the major countries it has chosen to plant its subsidiary.

In doing this, Access Corporation is also mindful of the country is going to so as to make sure that it is able to reap the desired benefit.

In addition, it has diversified its earnings away from volatile markets as well as orchestrated its operations from the global payments gateway by ensuring that using Access Bank UK, providing corresponding services from digital platforms, it gets the overall profitability of its franchise.

Speaking on AfCFTA, Wike said the bank would use its digital framework to benefit from the deal.

“So, we are moving from just being a Nigerian institution, to creating a much-more diversified institution in scale, scope and the nature of things that we do. Access Bank is basically transforming and we are now creating a holding company and I will give you some of the reasons we are doing what we are doing. First of all, the world is changing and technology has changed how things happen.

“I recall that about 25 years ago, if you wanted to sell debit cards, it was impossible. But that is gradually becoming extinct because a lot more payments are happening digitally. Secondly, if you look at the demography in the world, what they are asking for is digital payments and they are not waiting for the traditional banking system. That is, for them to be able to do several things through the touch of the button.

“So, the world is changing and if you as an institution is not part of that change, you may wake up one day and find out that you don’t have an institution. We are all used to when we used to have VCRs where people play video games and you rent films from mega plazas during the weekends, just to watch movie.

“The world has gone away from that and today, you can just go online to do whatever you want to do. Now, banking is changing and it is evolving rapidly. Technology has made it such that you can serve customers, even from the most remote village. So, there is a big change happening at a faster pace than we can imagine in the banking sector. 

“If you look at the way banks are valued, they are always valued from the traditional banking mindset, meanwhile they have the capabilities of creating institutions that can compete with fintechs and provide additional revenue over and above what they were doing as banks,” he explained.

No doubt, Access Corporation is creating strong and reliable institutions that would ensure that customers’ expectations are met. This natural evolution would ensure that the Holdco continues to use digital tools and its partnership with fintechs to support customers’ lifestyles outside of the banking system.