All Posts in "Access Bank"

Access Bank To Boost SMEs In Nigeria With $280m Loan

United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) ,Saturday,signed $280 million commitment to finance small and medium enterprises in Nigeria.

DFC CEO Scott Nathan and Access Bank Managing Director Roosevelt Ogbonna signed the commitment letter in a ceremony during CEO Nathan’s visit to West Africa
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) .

The loan will help address the financing gap for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and advance financial inclusion in Nigeria, including through the bank’s commitment to supporting women-owned and -led businesses.

“DFC’s investment in Access Bank demonstrates U.S. support for private sector-led development in Nigeria and throughout West Africa,” said DFC CEO Scott Nathan. “The $280 million loan from DFC will boost financial inclusion in Nigeria and empower women, bolstering the country’s economic growth.”

“Access Bank is extremely pleased to announce this strategic partnership with DFC to support the multitude of businesses across Nigeria who stand to benefit from greater access to finance, especially in an environment that is in need of stronger economic diversification,” said Roosevelt Ogbonna, Managing Director of Access Bank. “We look forward to utilizing the partnership with DFC in driving further economic expansion and inclusion in Nigeria, with a strong focus on non-oil sectors and women businesses.”

DFC financing for Access Bank will provide needed liquidity given the global economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The loan is expected to support at least 4,000 new SME loans in Nigeria. In addition, the loan proceeds will be on-lent across more than a dozen sectors in the Nigerian economy, with specific focus on women-owned SMEs, and on loans with longer tenors, which will provide more flexibility to borrowers.

“We welcome U.S. International Development Finance Corporation CEO Scott Nathan to Nigeria,” said Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard. “We look forward to discussing with the public and private sectors how DFC funding can be leveraged to unleash the full economic potential of Nigeria through support to the country’s small and medium-sized businesses, financial sector, and climate change-focused enterprises.”

Rizwan Shaikh, Citi EMEA Head of Emerging Markets, Corporate Bank, also expressed delight that the transaction “will significantly boost SME corporate activity in Nigeria”. “This is yet another milestone stride for Citi as it executes a focused local-economy development strategy based on solid partnerships with key clients and development agencies,” Shaikh added.

admin by — August 7, 2022 in Banking&Finance 0
Access Bank Partners Naija Brand Chick On Increased Prospects For Women

Access Bank Plchas partnered with foremost Nigerian female entrepreneur and business strategist, Nelly Agbogu to organize the 5th edition of the Naija Brand Chick Trade Fair.
The two-day fair, is scheduled to hold at La Madison Place, Lekki, Lagos on April 9th and 10th 2022 and is expected to drive over 20,000 visitors with hundreds of female entrepreneurs exhibiting their products and services during the fair.
As part of the Bank’s commitment to investing in women-owned businesses, all female businesses affiliated with the fair would be given free capacity building training sessions to equip their financial literacy and build business competencies,the bank said in a statement.
Speaking on the importance of Access to Market for female entrepreneurs, Abiodun Olubitan, Group Head, Women Banking said said  Access Bank understands the importance of contributing to the growth of the economy by providing business yielding opportunities for women-owned businesses.
“We believe in the vision of today’s female entrepreneur, and we are willing to help her grow. Accessing new markets is one of our growth strategies and this partnership has indeed contributed to scores of women entrepreneurs expanding their profit and business portfolio through physical trade exhibitions and fairs.
“Through the W Initiative, women-owned businesses across Africa can now access business growth opportunities through discounted financing such as the W Power Loan and capacity building programs like the Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton and IFC certified Mini MBA”, Olubitan said
According to Ayodele Olojede, Group Head of Emerging Businesses, “supporting MSMEs’ growth and development is a core proposition for the Bank as we understand their contribution to the economy in terms of GDP and Employment. However, we also know the challenges business owners face and we have developed our proposition to alleviate the constraints. Furthermore, we have also digitized this solution to ensure that we can cater to the vast majority of MSMEs”.
 Some of these innovations include our online account opening platform for businesses, digital lending platform, Digital payment solution platform (Swiftpay), Access to market (Discounted Website), and our capacity-building programs
Access Bank continues to reiterate its commitment to support women and contribute to the growth of the women businesses in Nigeria.
admin by — April 2, 2022 in Banking&Finance 0
Access Bank Explains Change To Holdco, Announces New CEO

The Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Dr. Herbert Wigwe, has explained that the need to reposition the bank for global relevance informed its change to holding company structure.
At a news  conference in Lagos, Wigwe said: “First of all the Banking Act has established the fact that you rather be a bank place or you could simply choose a narrow licence. So in the past under Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Central Bank governor, we have chosen to pursue a narrow licence with Access Bank Plc, just a traditional aspect of the business. Now when we finished our five years plan we told ourselves that we wanted to create a different type of institution, we wanted to create an institution that gives premium position in an ecosystem that will be connected globally and all of that. Therefore the narrow licence could no longer be enough and sufficient. So we began another five years plan that culminated where we are to basically establish a holding company for this purpose”.
He said: “Now the existing shareholders of Access Bank were people we migrated to the holding company. Now we obviously had to delist the traditional bank from NGX and put it on the OTC platform where Access Holding PLC is the sole shareholders.
“The answer is we are creating a big business institution and there is no reason why, perhaps  in the next 15 years, when you are counting some of the top five African indigenous banks Access Bank will not be there”.
The bank had earlier appointed Roosevelt Ogbonna as its new  Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank.
The development was sequel  to the appointment of Herbert Wigwe as the Group MD/CEO of Access Holdings Plc, according to a statement from  the bank.
Ogbonna has since 2017 been Access Bank’s deputy managing director. Before  2017, he was appointed executive director, commercial banking division, in October 2013.
He  was described as “a thoroughbred and consummate professional with over two decades of banking experience having joined Access Bank in 2002 from Guaranty Trust Bank.
“Ogbonna has a very rich professional cum academic background. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executive Fellow programme, an alumnus of Harvard Business School and a CFA charter holder,” according to the statement.
He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from IMD Business School, Switzerland; a Master’s degree (LL.M) in International Corporate & Commercial Law from King’s College, London; an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business; and a Bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from University of Nigeria, Nsukka.”
Besides,the board of Access Holdings announced the appointment of Victor Etuokwu as Access Bank’s deputy managing director (Retail North) and Chizoma Okoli as deputy managing director (Retail South).
It announced the resignation of Adeolu Bajomo as executive director, information technology and operations with effect from September 30, 2022.
Etuokwu was appointed an executive director of the bank in 2012 and his appointment was renewed in 2022 following the expiration of his second term.
He has approximately three decades of banking experience cutting across operations, information technology, business development and retail banking.
It said the three appointments had been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria and would be effective May 2, 2022.
The board further announced the resignation of Adeolu Bajomo as executive director, information technology and operations with effect from September 30, 2022.
The statement said this followed his decision to pursue other personal interests.
Access Bank, has confirmed that he has no disagreement with the board and there is no matter relating to his resignation that needs to be brought to the attention of the regulatory authorities.
“The board would like to express its appreciation to Bajomo for his contributions to the bank,” Access Bank said.
Speaking  on the developments, Bababode Osunkoya, chairman of the board said: “The new appointments reflect the robustness of our leadership succession plan and our decision to considerably strengthen our retail business while harnessing the potentials of SMEs and financial inclusion towards the attainment of group’s strategy.
“The appointees have been selected based on their exceptionally rich, professional, academic, and corporate board experiences, which are all relevant to the needs of our board. We are deeply convinced that their skills will no doubt continue to add significant value to our bank’s quest to become Africa’s Gateway to the world.”
admin by — March 30, 2022 in Banking&Finance 0
Access Bank ‘W’ Initiative Facilitates Successful Childbirth Through Maternal Health Service Support

Access Bank’s women empowerment arm, the ‘W’ Initiative, has welcomed a new set of twins through its Maternal Health Service Support (MHSS) Scheme.
The scheme, which was created to ease the financial burden associated with accessing both local and international fertility treatments and natal support, was accessed by one of Access Bank’s customers last year—the result of which is a twin birth following a successful In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedure in Port Harcourt.
Abiodun Olubitan, Group Head, W Initiative Access Bank, said fertility treatments and natal supports are generally expensive, making them inaccessible to many families who need them.
He added: “More so, many of these treatments require multiple cycles completed to increase the success probability. Each cycle and each treatment increases the financial burden families have to face to bear the children they desire
“Unfortunately, these treatments do not guarantee the desired results. Many families have had to go through them repeatedly, which makes the financial requirements crushing. We launched the Maternal Health Service Support to help families shoulder that burden. We are ecstatic over the news of our customer’s set of twins, and we look forward to hearing more positive news in the near future,” she added.
Since its launch, Access Bank has disbursed over N211 Million in loans through the MHSS, positively impacting hundreds of women with low-cost health financing that has thus far resulted in 78 births.
The MHSS serves as the ‘W’ Initiative’s vehicle to finance various health procedures, including fibroid treatments, bone marrow transplants, child delivery, weight loss, surrogacy amongst others.
admin by — March 28, 2022 in Health 0