By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Group Managing Director of Access Holdings Plc, Mr Herbert Wigwe, has disclosed that the banking subsidiary of the company, Access Bank Plc, hopes to take its operations to Europe and the United States possibly in the next five years.
This is in alignment with the five-year strategy document of Access Bank, which says, “By the end of 2027, we expect to be in at least 26 countries and at least 3 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries supporting trade (United Kingdom, France & United States of America).”
In an interview with CNN’s Zain Asher on Marketplace Africa, Mr Wigwe noted that the expansion plan of the organisation was to ensure the company becomes “Africa’s gateway to the world.”
“I think that you would see a lot of expansion across the continent over the next couple of years, but I think beyond that, you would see us do a bit more in Europe, and perhaps before the end of the next five years, the corporate strategic plan would have put our flags in the US,” he said on the programme.
While commenting on the future of the banking sector, he highlighted the rise of cryptocurrency and how Nigeria is attempting to regulate the sector.
“It’s very interesting and in the context of Nigeria, very regulated because the regulators are trying to make sure that they have a better grasp of what is happening as far as crypto is concerned. […] Leveraging that, we will have the Access coin, for instance, and the idea is to help support financial inclusion,” he said.
Recall that in 2002, Mr Wigwe and his business partner, Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, acquired Access Bank.
The banker said since the period, the banking landscape has changed, noting that, “The consumer has changed in terms of demographics, because it has changed in terms of their own needs.
“People would take a lot of cash in 2002. Now most of those things, or most of those facilities or transactions that would’ve been done using cash, are done using cards. And we’ve also seen the evolution right now to more digital means. And, of course, we’re now talking about cryptos, right? So it’s been big changes from 2002 to now.”
As more and more unicorns (startups valued at over $1 billion) are created on the continent, Mr Wigwe says that African entrepreneurs’ potential has been unlocked.
“I think there’s still so much more that can happen. There are people doing great things in South Africa, in Kenya, and more and more will be born. And the reason some of us are happy is that people are beginning to see that intellect, talent, and technical skills also exist here. It’s not a European thing or an American thing,” he noted.
Dipo Olowookere 
Aduragbemi Omiyale