Access Bank MD Herbert Wigwe: The Extraordinary Banker Marches on

With a grander momentum than 1000 people can offer, Herbert Wigwe is proving himself to be the corporate treasure of Nigeria. Access Bank has grown from one of the middle-grade Nigerian banks into a top-level bank of continental renown on his watch. Wigwe recently commandeered the bank to swallow up yet another bank in a different African country, earning him accolades worldwide.

Herbert Wigwe has proved yet again that the sky is not the limit for everybody, not when there are heights beyond. This is how folks interpreted the news of Access Bank acquiring and assimilating African Banking Corporation, a banking institution based in Mozambique. It is not every day that a bank with a Nigerian at the helm acquires another bank in another country—maybe not every day for Access Bank, but definitely every year!

The acquisition of African Banking Corporation is the fifth in four years. A few weeks ago, Wigwe’s team took command of the South African banking institution, Grobank and renamed it Access Bank South Africa Limited. A few months ago, in January, Wigwe shook hands with the former authorities in charge of Cavmont Bank Limited, Zambia, and took control of the bank. In 2019, Access Bank broke the internet with its acquisition of Diamond Bank, making it the largest bank in Africa, according to some analysts. Close to the end of 2019, Access Bank acquired 100 per cent of Kenya’s Transnational Bank.

While other banks are consolidating their resources after the COVID-19 crisis, Access Bank continues to look like it could swallow a few more banks before it is full. And who is responsible for this but the bank’s CEO and Group MD, Herbert Wigwe?

With his accomplishments, one might say that he is no longer to his Nigerian peers but has jumped out of the limits of national corporate banking. In less than 20 years, Higwe has transformed Access Bank and made it into the monster it is today. If this is not the true spirit of corporate leadership, what is?