Banking
Access Bank Targets Top Spot in Africa Next 5 Years
**To Grow Customer, SME Client Base
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
One of the tier one lenders in Nigeria, Access Bank Plc, has set a target of becoming Africa’s gateway to the world in the next five year.
Group Managing Director of the financial institution, Mr Herbert Wigwe, made this known on Monday while presenting the bank’s new five-year strategy.
Access Bank offers full commercial banking services across Sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, Asia and the Middle East.
The new 5-year strategy hopes to accelerate this growth 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.
“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.
“Our strategy will mean that by 2022, millions of people will have access to banking services for the first time. Customers will make payments and transfers when and how they need to. Businesses will be able to trade in new markets and invest in new technology.
“We recognise that we have a vital role to play in growing Nigeria, our largest market. Our global footprint is also changing and growing. As a result of our strategy, we will be in the Africa corridor trade hubs and the global gateway markets within five years.
“This next phase of our transformation journey will deliver our most ambitious goal yet, a bank that is digital, innovative and nimble. A bank underpinned by the highest standards of risk and compliance. A bank that serves Africa and the world. Our ambition is to become Africa’s gateway to the world,” Mr Wigwe revealed.
The new strategy has six strategic levers: 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.
Access Bank chief explained that to deliver the transformation, the lender will adopt a new organisational structure. The retail bank will have a customer segment focus, driven by digital and payments.
The corporate bank will build deep sector expertise and deploy global relationship managers. Access Bank’s subsidiaries will be organised around strategic clusters, with strong collaboration between them to secure trade finance and correspondent banking.
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 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, SME 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.
From 2013 to November 2017, Access Bank has increased its total assets at a CAGR of 18 percent and delivered shareholder returns of 90 percent.
The bank has also grown its customer base from 90,000 in 2002 to over 8 million in 2017 and in the same period opened 351 new branches.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The six edition of the Hackaholics of Wema Bank Plc has produced 20 top finalists shared equally between two streams, Ideathon and Hackathon.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists include PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
They emerged after a two-day pre-pitch held on December 16 and 17, 2025, for the grand finale slated for Friday, December 19, 2025.
They grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 will convene the top players in Africa’s tech and innovation ecosystem, creating an avenue for these finalists to not only put their creativity to the ultimate test but also give their solutions visibility to potential investors for additional funding opportunities beyond the prizes to be won.
The prizes to be won for the Ideathon include N25 million for the winner, N20 million for the first runner-up, N15 million for the second runner-up and N5 million each for two women-led teams.
In the Hackathon category, the first to fourth-place winners will receive N20 million, N15 million, N10 million and N5 million, respectively.
The pre-pitch saw the top 43 contenders battle in a game of innovation and problem solving, presenting compelling pitches for a chance to make it to top 10 in their respective streams.
After a rigorous stretch of pitches and presentations, the top 20 emerged, securing their spot in the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0.
“Hackaholics started off as a hackathon and morphed into an ideation. For Hackaholics 6.0, the sixth edition, we decided to give both the builders of new solutions and the refiners of existing ones, an opportunity to make meaningful impact.
“For us at Wema Bank, we understand that innovation isn’t just building from scratch. Sometimes, it’s looking at what exists and developing new ways to optimise that and create more efficiency. This is the idea behind our two-stream Ideathon-Hackathon structure.
“Every year, Hackaholics shows us just how eager and motivated Nigerian youth are when it comes to exploring creativity and innovation, and we are honoured to be the institution that provides them with the platform and resources to put this drive to good use.
“We toured seven cities, indulged 1,460 participants and discovered hundreds of remarkable ideas; some of which needed some refining and some of which deserved to move to the next stage.
“For those who needed to go back to the drawing board, we provided useful guidance and for the top contenders, we were able to shortlist to the top 43, who proceeded to the pre-pitch. To every participant, Wema Bank is proud of you. This is just the beginning,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will enforce penalties against designated banks that delay the remittance of customs revenue, in a move aimed at strengthening transparency and safeguarding government earnings.
This was disclosed in a statement on the NCS official account on X, formerly known as Twitter and signed by its spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Maiwada, who said the delays undermine the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has noted instances of delayed remittance of customs revenue by some designated banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’odogwu platform,” the statement read.
“Such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“In line with the provisions of the Service Level Agreement executed between the Nigeria Customs Service and designated banks, the Service hereby notifies stakeholders of the commencement of enforcement actions against banks found to be in default of agreed remittance timelines.”
Mr Maiwada disclosed that any bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timeline will be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the period of the delay.
He added that affected banks would be formally notified of the delayed amounts, the applicable penalty, and the deadline for settlement.
“Accordingly, any designated bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed period shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the duration of the delay.
“Affected banks will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty, and the timeline for settlement,” the statement read.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Mr Ini Ebong, has offloaded some shares of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent firm of the banking institution.
A regulatory notice from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited confirmed the development on Thursday.
It was disclosed that the transaction occurred on Friday, December 12, 2025, on the floor of the stock exchange.
The sale involved about 11.8 million shares, precisely 11,783,333 units traded at N31.14 per share, amounting to about N366.9 million.
Mr Ebong, who studied Architecture from University of Ife and obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees, became the DMD of First Bank in June 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking since January 2022.
He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.
Before joining First Bank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Business Head.
He has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income and securities.
He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices.
At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks and market participants.
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