Economywatch - Access Bank: What a loss!

Dr Wigwe, his wife and his son, together with the former group chairman of Nigerian Stock Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group), Abimbola Ogunbanjo, and two crew members, lost their lives in a helicopter crash at Nipton, near the California-Nevada border in the US few days ago on 9 February.

The incident hit hard not only the Access Bank family but also the banking world and humankind, as a man of great service to humanity, especially in the financial landscape, lost his life tragically together with his family and other personalities.

Their demise is a pain and big loss not only to the Access Bank family but also to the banking fraternity and the African financial landscape.

Born 15 Aug 1966, Dr Wigwe started his career at Coopers & Lybrand as a management consultant in the late 1980s and by 1989 he was a chartered accountant.  He moved to Guaranty Trust Bank, served for ten years, and eventually assumed the position of executive director in 1998 before joining Access Bank.

In 2002, the visionary banker and businessman became the deputy managing director of Access Bank Plc building the bank together with the Managing Director Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. Between 2002 and 2017, the bank grew to become the 4th largest bank in Nigeria.

In 2018 Access Bank merged with competitor Diamond Bank, making it the largest bank in Nigeria. It was reported that Dr Wigwe planned to expand the bank into Asia in early 2024, but could not see how that aim would officially come to pass.

Under the leadership of Dr Wigwe and  Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the bank gave birth to Access Holdings Plc, which has become the umbrella company, providing services such as commercial banking, lending, payment, insurance and more, and which Dr Wigwe steered as the Group CEO till his passing.

Access Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Access Holdings Plc (“Access Corporation”), is a leading full-service commercial bank operating through a network of more than 700 branches and service outlets, spanning 3 continents, 17 markets and 52 million customers (Access Bank Plc).

The bank employs 28,000 people in its operations in Nigeria and has subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa including The Gambia, and the United Kingdom, a branch in Dubai, the UAE, and representative offices in China, Lebanon and India.

Access Bank’s parent company, Access Corporation, has been listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange since 1998 and has over 900,000 shareholders.

As at 31 March 2022, Access Bank had total assets of approximately US$28.8 billion. (Source: accessbankplc.com).

The bank’s subsidiaries around the world have created massive job opportunities for citizens of those countries and are contributing substantially to the financial services, economies and development of those nations.

Established in The Gambia in October 2006, Access Bank Gambia Limited has several branches across the country providing colourful services and products to the people.