Herbert Wigwe: The Aggressive Expansionist

Hamid Ayodeji writes on Access Bank’s aggressive expansion strategy

The Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Hebert Wigwe is not about to slowdown anytime soon.

From Nigeria to Rwanda, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Zambia, among several others, the expansionist adrenaline rush in the Chairman of the Body of Bank Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) has remained on the rise.

In a string of expansion across the African continent, the bank has said it intends to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) to expand its footprint to 20 countries across the continent.

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

As leader of the Body of Bank CEOs, he has collaborated with the central bank in introducing initiatives to support Nigerians, especially micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) operators as well in ensuring stability in the banking system.

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 the bank which then was ranked 65th among 89 banks operating in the country.

Over the years, Access Bank has evolved from an obscure bank into a world-class African financial institution.

Today, it is one of the five largest banks in Nigeria in terms of assets, loans, deposits and branch network; a feat which has been achieved through a robust long-term approach to client solutions – providing committed and innovative advice.
Access Bank 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.

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

According to Wigwe, across Africa, there is an opportunity for the bank to expand to high-potential markets, leveraging the benefits of AfCFTA.

He said AfCFTA, among other benefits, would expand intra-Africa trade and provide real opportunities for Africa.

He stated that the plan is for the bank to establish its presence in 22 African countries as well as some strategic locations outside the continent so as to diversify its earnings and take advantage of growth opportunities in Africa.

According to him, 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.

“We believe that we are best positioned to basically do all of that. Our focus is to become an aggregator in Africa and we are building a global payment gateway and providing trade finance support and correspondent banking across the continent. We are focusing on the key markets.

“The approach would always be that in the country we wish to go to, that we have the right skills. We would not just be a drop in the country in which we are present, we would make sure that we have an impactful presence in each of the major countries in which we are present.

“In doing this, we are also mindful of the country we are going to so as to make sure that it is of benefit to the bank. As we do this, we are working with our friends and partners.

“We are diversifying our earnings away from volatile markets as well and we are orchestrating our operations from the global payments gateway and ensuring that using Access Bank UK, providing corresponding services from digital platforms, the overall profitability of our franchise,” he explained.

Commenting further, on AfCFTA, he said the bank would use its digital framework to benefit from the deal.

“We think we need to continue to entrench ourselves in the local market because there is still so much work to be done.

“So, we are doing everything possible to satisfy our customers and also to ensure that our channels are adequately secured. We are also ensuring that our staff are very efficient,” the CEO said.

Also, the revelation in May this year that Access Bank was among the list of financial institutions from Africa and the Middle East that expressed interest in the acquisition of Union Bank Plc and other African assets of Atlas Mara Group, a Pan-African banking group, also reflected the aggressive expansion drive by the financial institution.

To Wigwe, Access Bank South Africa Limited which recently commenced operations is positioned to deliver a robust banking operation that connects key African markets.

He said the acquisition in South Africa sealed Access Bank’s commitment to delivering its strategic aspirations of becoming Africa’s Gateway to the World, in line with its vision to be the ‘World’s Most Respected African Bank.’

“We look forward to the many opportunities our collective experience and deep understanding of the African market brings to our valued clients, and the journey ahead being one of great promise for our institution and the continent,” he added.
Access Bank’s market entry in the country as well as the sub-region, is expected to further solidify its strategy as, “a strong banking partner in key verticals across retail and corporate banking, including especially supporting trade in payments across southern Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa more broadly.”

Wigwe further explained: “We remain committed to a disciplined and thoughtful expansion strategy in Africa, which we believe will create strong, sustainable returns for our shareholders and stakeholders at large, over the medium and long-term.”

Having identified the immense opportunity in playing at the global stage, the bank felt the next thing to do is to transit to a more formidable structure.

“We will therefore re-organise to capture these opportunities by transitioning to a HoldCo structure. Through this re-organisation, we will create new product revenues without taking additional risk for the enterprise, ensure diversification of earnings, and support outside of Africa expansion,” Wigwe had disclosed.

The HoldCo will include, Access Bank Group, Payments Business, Consumer Lending and Agency Banking and an Insurance Brokerage. Wigwe explained that the scope of Access Bank Group will consist of Nigeria, Africa and International subsidiaries.

The bank’s board, having seen a growing potential in the Nigerian insurance industry did not hesitate in approving the plan to venture in that industry.

As opportunity for increased capacity and assurance of high profit margin beckons in the insurance industry, Access Bank is poised to register its presence in a big way.

Wigwe had told investors that the insurance subsidiary will adopt a dynamic and creative approach to deliver value-added services focused to meet customer insurance needs.

Already, Bancassurance Access Bank is in partnership with Coronation Insurance to offer insurance products to the Access Bank’s customers. He disclosed that Access Bank-Coronation Insurance bancassurance is already available in Nigeria and Ghana.

“Access Insurance Brokerage would adopt a dynamic and creative approach to provide a value-added insurance broking services focused to meeting customers’ insurance protection needs,” Wigwe said.

He said the bank is poised to take advantage of its presence in other African countries by capturing from the insurance industry of the host countries.

The Nigeria International Access Bank Group will include Access Bank Sierra Leone, Access Bank Gambia, Access Bank Kenya, Access Bank Zambia and Access Bank Rwanda.
Others include, Access Bank South Africa, Access Bank Mozambique, Access Bank D.R. Congo, Access Bank UK, Access Bank Lebanon, Access Bank China, Access Bank India, Access Bank Ghana, Access Bank U.A.E, and Access PFC Diamond Finance B.V. Access Bank.

The bank plans to focus on key markets to support regional trade by targeting new opportunity markets and positioning the Access Bank as a trade and payments gateway to the world.

The bank also plans to transform payments and remittances using cheap FX from international remittances to feed trade, leveraging Access Africa connections to wallets and payment platforms.

Wigwe had told shareholders, investors and stockbrokers that Access Bank will approach target scale in countries of presence, targeting an impactful presence, reaping economies of scale, and leveraging digital and access to cheap funding sources. The bank also plans to diversify risk and earnings, taking advantage of the expansion strategy to diversify its earnings and risk—that said, Nigeria will remain its largest market.

To this end, the banks will build on partnerships, modelling expansion strategy on partnerships with financial investors, DFIs, etc. and providing strategic support to protect and grow partners’ value. The bank’s chief said the Africa Franchise will be complemented with strategic global locations anchored out of the Access Bank UK subsidiary.

Clearly, as we move forward, innovation and size will play major roles in helping financial institutions take advantage of emerging opportunities and Wigwe has strategically positioned Access Bank for that auspicious moment.