Banking
Access Bank’s Wigwe Takes 40% Pay Cut in Effort to Reduce OPEX
By Dipo Olowookere
In an effort to reduce the operating expenses (OPEX) of the company, the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Mr Herbert Wigwe, has said he will agree to slash his salary by 40 percent.
Mr Wigwe, in a video making the rounds where he had a chat with employees of the financial institution, said he will expect other members of staff of the organisation to accept cuts in their salaries.
An analysis by Business Post showed that in the 2019 financial year, Access Bank spent about N76.9 billion as personnel costs, below FBN Holdings and Zenith Bank, which used N99.3 billion and N77.8 billion respectively for the same purpose in the same period.
While United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc spent N76.9 billion as personnel expenses, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc spent N37.2 billion.
Business Post reports further that in the first three months of this year, Access Bank spent N19.6 billion on personnel costs, higher than N12.8 billion in the same period of last year.
Also, other operating expenses rose sharply to N63.6 billion in Q1 2020 from N37.4 billion in Q1 2019 and this and others contributed to the decline reported in the bank’s profit after tax (N40.9 billion versus N41.2 billion in Q1 2019).
Since the beginning of this year, the world has been battling with coronavirus disease and it has affected many businesses, including those in Nigeria.
For over a month, many employees of companies in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State have been working from home due to lockdown declared in the three places to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Offices are expected to reopen for business from Monday, May 4, 2020 and they would be allowed operate from 8am to 3pm because of a 8pm to 6am curfew announced by the federal government.
This week, the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, stated that companies to be allowed to resume operations from next week should have about 60 percent of their workforce back to offices.
This means some employees may still have to work from home.
Worried about its huge operating costs, the Access Bank chief said management will carry out some measures, including pay cuts and massive retrenchment of staff.
“We basically have to make the adjustments the same way you sounded when we spoke 10 days ago with respect to basically cutting down cost.
“I will be the first to take the hit and I’m going to take the largest pay cut, which would be as much as 40 percent.
“The rest we would have to cascade right through the institution. Everybody may have to make some adjustments of some sort.” Mr Wigwe informed employees of the tier-one lender in a video-conferencing meeting.
On trimming the company’s workforce, he said 75 percent of the bank’s staff, most of whom are outsourced and are offering non-essential services would have to go.
“We probably don’t need as many security men as required, even to the fact that we are not going to have all our branches open between now and December.
“We don’t need all the tea girls. We don’t need all the cleaners. We don’t need all the tellers etc,” Mr Wigwe said in the video.
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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