Access Corporation to unlock opportunities for intra Africa trade

Access Holdings Plc, trading as Access Corporation on Wednesday announced the commencement of its operations, with initial portfolio companies and future strategy.

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

Herbert Wigwe, group CEO of Access Corporation, speaking on its debut said: “Many of you would have heard us talk about Access Corporation earlier this year. This natural evolution of our company will ensure that we continue to use digital tools and our partnership with Fintechs to support our customers’ lifestyles outside of the banking system.”

“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,” he said.

“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.”

According to him, the corporation will consist of verticals cutting across banking, payments, consumer lending, insurance brokerage and asset management. Access Bank Group will continue to operate in Nigeria and through its subsidiaries and business offices in Africa, Europe, and Asia.

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“These businesses, when combined, will position Access Corporation to provide banking services, including intra-Africa trade, consumer lending, payments services, and insurance services to its customers, thereby improving wealth diversification and preservation.”

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

Wigwe concludes, “We recognize 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,

Access Corporation is on a mission to build and sustain one global platform, open for anyone to join where people can be connected to exceptional opportunities. This is based on a growth trajectory that has always prioritised complementarity and stakeholder value.

The Access Corporation maintains this approach as it evolves into a more diversified financial institution. It represents a natural progression in offering new, globally connected services across increasingly complex customer needs.

“We are building on a more than 20-year consistent history of promises delivered. We are now in the next phase of our evolution; from a nascent bank to Nigeria and Africa’s largest bank by asset and customer base respectively and now a financial service ecosystem where the world connects, he said.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.