Access Bank Unveils Five-year Growth Strategy

• Access Bank Unveils Five-year Growth Strategy

Access Bank Plc has announced its new five-year strategy with an ambitious plan to become Africa’s gateway to the world.

The full service commercial bank with headquarters in Nigeria and operations across sub-Saharan Africa, the United Kingdom, Asia and the Middle East, disclosed this when it visited the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday to present the strategy.

The move, the lender said, was the latest in a series of transformative strategies that have resulted in sustained growth.

From 2013 to November 2017, Access Bank said it had increased its total assets at a compound annual growth rate of 18 per cent and delivered shareholder returns of 90 per cent, adding that it had also grown its customer base from 90,000 in 2002 to over eight million in 2017 and opened 351 new branches within the same period.

Speaking at the unveiling, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer/Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe, said, “Five years ago we set the ambitious goal to attain top three positions in our chosen markets. 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.”

The new five-year strategy, according to the bank, will accelerate the growth story to position Access Bank as the number one Nigerian bank by 2022 and create a universal payments gateway to dominate international trade and inter-African payments.

The new strategy has six strategic levers, which are “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 said it would adopt a new organisational structure with the retail bank having a customer segment focus, driven by digital and payments.

It said the corporate bank would build deep sector expertise and deploy global relationship managers, of which the bank’s subsidiaries would be organised around strategic clusters, with strong collaboration between them to secure trade finance and correspondent banking.

It added, “The bank’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.

“In the next phase of its transformation programme, Access Bank will embark on a series of bold initiatives. At home, the goal is to be the number one bank in Nigeria by growing the retail customer base, the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises client base, and by dominating the top 100 Nigerian corporates.

“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.”