Access Bank strategising towards becoming best Nigerian bank come 2022

*Rolls out 5-year plan

Access Bank, a full service commercial bank with headquarters in Nigeria and operations across Sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, Asia and the Middle East, has announced a new five-year strategy with an ambitious plan to become the number one Nigerian bank by the year 2022, and create a Universal Payments Gateway to dominate international trade and inter-African payments.

Disclosing plans to shareholders on the floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday, 4th December, the bank explained that the feat will be achieved by growing its retail customer base, SME client base, and by dominating the top 100 Nigerian corporates.

The bank disclosed that Internationally it will develop an integrated global franchise by strategically developing its presence in key African markets, enhancing collaboration in global financial gateways including London and New York, Asia and the Middle East, and strengthening its trade hubs in India, Dubai and China.

“A strengthened presence in key African markets, and the creation of Universal Payments Gateway combined with an integrated global franchise, ideally positions Access Bank to be Africa’s Gateway to the World.” The bank revealed on Monday.

Launching the new five-year strategy, CEO and Group Managing Director, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe said: “Five years ago, we set the ambitious goal to attain top three positions in our chosen market. Today, we are a strong, diversified institution with a consolidated top tier position in our sector.

We are setting out a new and ambitious five-year strategy, which will put Access Bank at the forefront of Africa’s changing financial landscape by creating a Universal Payments Gateway to dominate international trade and inter-African payments.

Our strategy will mean that by 2022, millions of people will have access to banking services for the first time. Customers will make payments and transfers when and how they need to. Businesses will be able to trade in new markets and invest in new technology.

We recognize that we have a vital role to play in growing Nigeria, our largest market. Our global footprint is also changing and growing. As a result of our strategy, we will be in the Africa corridor trade hubs and the global gateway markets within five years.

This next phase of our transformation journey will deliver our most ambitious goal yet – a bank that is digital, innovative and nimble.
A bank underpinned by the highest standards of risk and compliance. A bank that serves Africa and the world, our ambition is to become Africa’s gateway to the world.”

The 5-year strategy is the latest in a series of transformative strategies that have resulted in sustained growth.

From 2013 to November 2017, Access Bank has increased its total assets at a CAGR of 18% and delivered shareholder returns of 90%.

The bank has also grown its customer base from 90,000 in 2002 to over 8 million in 2017 and in the same period opened 351 new branches.

The new strategy has six strategic levers, which are: To be digitally led, Retail banking growth and consolidation in wholesale markets, customer focused, analytics- driven, with robust risk management, strong global collaboration in key gateway markets, and the creation of a universal payments gateway.

To deliver the transformation, Access Bank says it will adopt a new organisational structure.

The retail bank will have a customer segment focus, driven by digital and payments, while the corporate bank will build deep sector expertise and deploy global relationship managers.

On the part of the subsidiaries, the bank disclosed that subsidiaries will be organised around strategic clusters, with strong collaboration between them to secure trade finance and correspondent banking.

The bank noted that it’s transformation programme will be underpinned by robust risk management together with high levels of automation to enhance the compliance and risk functions and drive customer insights.

Stories by Adesola Afolabi