Access Bank Group - A global bank with African roots and Africa’s gateway to the world

Just two years ago, Access Bank officially opened its doors in Cameroon but what is less known about the Bank are its roots and that it has been in West Africa since [1989] and is now Africa’s largest bank by customer numbers and services over 65 million customers through operations across 21 markets including 14 in Africa, a presence in the UAE, UK and France as well as rep offices in China, Hong Kong, India and Lebanon.
The exponential growth of Access Bank dates back to the early 2000s when two young men in their thirties embarked on a journey to transform the African financial services sector by changing the narrative of the continent. Their ambition was clear - to create a globally connected community and ecosystem, inspired by Africa, for the world. Many did not believe in the possibility of what Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, and Herbert Wigwe wanted to achieve but they set their sights and focused on the end game - to uplift the African continent through what they termed sustainable banking. 

Starting with Nigeria where Access Bank was the 65th largest bank in 2003, to its current position as the largest bank in Nigeria, the duo leveraged on their strong corporate banking foundation to achieve exponential growth through a consistent achievement of five-year strategic plans that have been aimed at creating the World’s most respected African Bank. 

In West Africa alone, outside of Nigeria, Access Bank has since expanded into five other countries and is now scaling up its presence in the region through its acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank’s shareholding in its subsidiaries in Cameroon, The Gambia and Sierra Leone. In Cameroon, the Bank has made significant strides over the past two years; recording a remarkable triple-digit growth of 265% in its deposits, having grown from XAF21.6 billion reported in December 2022 to XAF79 billion in December 2023. In this short space of time, the Bank has experienced exponential growth, growing its customer base to almost 10 000 customers and its staff complement to approximately 170 employees. 

This solid banking base is the anchor vertical of the holding company which is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange – the Access Corporation – a group that creates a globally connected community and ecosystem, inspired by Africa, providing new interconnected services across customer needs. The Access Corporation builds on the scale and ethical standards of Access Bank with portfolio companies ranging from banking to insurance brokerage, lending and payments services, insurance and pensions and ambitions to broaden this service offering. At this point in time, these verticals are available in Nigeria, with plans to extend the pensions business across its Access Bank’s African footprint by 2027. 

A presence in Cameroon to bolster financial inclusion in West Africa 
According to the World Bank, approximately 350 million adults across sub-Saharan Africa remain unbanked and primarily excluded from the formal economy. In Cameroon, the World Bank notes that only 15% of the adult population has access to formal financial services, such as bank accounts or credit cards. With a focus on corporates, SMEs, women and youths, Access Bank’s presence in Cameroon has enabled the Group to deliver on its mandate of extending financial services to the unbanked, foster financial inclusion and further deepen its financial services offerings to banked customers. Once the acquisition is complete, Access Bank will continue to provide a full range of banking services, and continuity for its stakeholders including employees and customers in Cameroon, although with a larger scale. 

What is clear is that the journey of Access Bank is one of resilience. Despite the hurdles encountered, the Bank continues to expand its territories and revenues. With the much-anticipated conclusion of the Standard Chartered Bank acquisition in Cameroon, it is evident that the Bank’s resolve is to strengthen its presence in the country and ultimately accelerate financial inclusion to deliver a new era of banking. As part of its current five-year strategic plan (2023-2027), the Bank will continue to pursue its Retail expansion strategy on the continent with the aim of growing its customer base to over 125 million by 2027 and consolidating its Wholesale business to support Intra-African trade across the continent. 
To achieve these ambitious goals in Cameroon, Access Bank has extended its footprint by inaugurating two new branches after the Akwa branch in Douala. Leveraging its Bonamoussadi branch in Douala and Intendance branch in Yaoundé, the bank has effectively increased accessibility to banking services for the local population. This move has resulted in an expansion of its clientele in Cameroon as the Bank plans to expand into other regions in the future.

Looking ahead, the Bank will continue to invest in technological advancements which will enable the migration of the majority of its customers to digital platforms across touchpoints. The bank will also continue to grow its subsidiary network – with plans to have a footprint across 26 African countries as well as the USA, Europe and Asia by the end of 2027. Access Bank is well on its journey to building a strong global franchise focused on serving as a gateway for payments, investment and trade in Cameroon, the continent at large and the rest of the world.