Wigwe Now GMD/CEO Access Holdings, Ogbonna Appointed Bank MD

•Bank repositioned for greater value for shareholders

Kayode Tokede

Following the completion of its scheme of arrangement with all approvals gotten for its holding company (HoldCo) structure, Mr. Herbert Wigwe was yesterday announced as the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (GMD/CEO) of Access Holdings Plc.

A notification to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, signed by Company Secretary, Mr. Sunday Ekwochi, also announced Mr. Bababode Osunkoya as the chairman of Access Holdings, while for the banking subsidiary, Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna was appointed the Managing Director/CEO.

In addition, Mr. Victor Etuokwu is now the Deputy Managing Director (North) and Mrs. Chizoba Okoli, Deputy Managing Director (South) of the bank respectively.

Under the new re-organisation, Access Holding Company Plc would serve as the parent company for the group and it would have many subsidiaries.

Specifically, while Access Holdco would be the parent company in the new structure, the subsidiaries to be created are: Access Bank Group; Access Payco Group; Access Lendco; Access Insureco; Access Real Estate, and Others (e.g., ecommerce).

As part of its 20th anniversary, Access Bank had decided to start implementing its HoldCo strategy.

The HoldCo is expected to invest in pension assets, the payment sector, insurance, fintech, among others.

With that, the commercial banking arm of the business now represents only one vertical in the whole arrangement.  That means Access Bank has been repositioned for growth and would be creating more value for shareholders, which analysts have commended.

Wigwe has also been praised for the vision and as GMD/CEO, he would be responsible for driving other verticals in the new arrangement.

It is also worthy to note that Wigwe decided to step down as the CEO of the bank two years ahead of the expiration of his tenure. a rarity in this clime. Analysts pointed out that the move is the hallmark of a leader with eyes on the goal.

According to the statement to the NGX, the parent company now holds 100 per cent shares of Access Bank Nigeria and 100 per cent shares of all non-banking subsidiaries of the bank.

Also, Access Bank Nigeria now owns all its banking subsidiaries (15 in total) and all its three representative offices in India, China and Lebanon.

Other members of Access Holdings Plc board are: Mr. Abubakar Jimoh (Independent Non-Executive Director),

Mrs. Fatimah Bello-Ismail (Independent Non-Executive Director), Mrs. Ojinika Olaghere (Non-Executive Director), Mr. Olusegun Ogbonnewo (Non-Executive Director), Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna (Non-Executive Director), Mr. Oluseyi Kumapayi (Non-Executive Director) and Ms. Bolaji Olaitan Agbede (Executive Director).

The company secretary also announced the resignation of Mr. Adeola Bajomo as Executive director, information technology and operations with effective from September 30,2022.

The statement added that: “This follows his decision to pursue other personal interest.”

Meanwhile, shareholders of Access bank yesterday re-elect Dr. Ajoritsedere Awosika as a non-executive director and also re-elect Mr. Adeniyi Adekoya as an independent Non-executive Director.

Precisely, there are five reasons the bank is transitioning towards a holdco and it includes value creation – to maximise revenue and value by establishing ecosystems; Agility – to enable the corporation to rapidly respond to a consistently changing market environment while maintaining oversight; to Leverage scale – that is to capture opportunities from local and global positioning to drive top and bottom-line growth; Best-in-class talent – to create an environment that would enable the corporation to hire the best and invest in innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership development, as well as to pool resources – by promote resource sharing  and maximise synergies.

The bank is also using the wider banking model to build a self-reinforcing ecosystem that would be embedded in consumers’ lives

It strongly believes that the new structure would leading to great ambitions

for the institution supported by selected strong partnerships & enablers to scale and among other things, it would see the institution move from  a local bank to a global brand, from banking only, to an institution that is beyond banking; from one that connects Nigeria, to one that  connects the world.

In addition, Access Bank would move from just touching consumers to becoming an institution that is embedded in the consumer life and from a situation where one in every two Nigerians have accounts with the bank, to one where one in every three Africans are its customers and also from being limited by the sovereign to one that is piercing the sovereign ceiling.

Wigwe, had assured the shareholders that the board and management would remain committed to decisions that would take the bank to the next level.

“The institution has grown beyond a lot of one of those things, even the very presence of your institution in several countries requires a different organisational structure to handle all of those things.

“If anybody tells you that there is one managing director who will oversee 20 or 30 countries, it’s a lie. We have to continuously evolve and create a structure that will ensure there is proper oversight over the subsidiaries,” Wigwe had said.