Access Holdings Records Zero Cybersecurity Breaches, Cuts Operational Emissions by 28.47%

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

In 2025, Access Holdings Plc lowered its operational emissions by 28.47 per cent by growing its green asset portfolio to N92.15 billion, though still far from its N475 billion target.

Details of its 2025 Sustainability Report showed that operational emissions fell to 49,352 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from 57,176 tonnes in 2024, supported primarily by branch solarisation across 263 locations and the deployment of 323 solar-powered ATMs, largely across Access Bank in Nigeria.

The organisation applies the operational-control approach under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, accounting for emissions across its African footprint, with Access Bank representing the largest share.

The report reinforces its strategic shift from scale to value by showing how sustainability is being embedded in capital allocation, risk management, product development and operations.

During the year, Access Holdings deployed N72.3 billion under its Sustainable Finance Framework to eligible environmentally beneficial projects and grew its cumulative sustainability-focused loan book to $1.269 billion.

Beyond environmental outcomes, the report highlights the group’s contribution to inclusive economic participation.

In 2025, Access Holdings extended access to finance to 2,528,117 low-income individuals and onboarded 78,438 new MSMEs onto its financing platform.

Across the institution, 2.8 billion transactions were processed during the year, underscoring its role as core financial infrastructure for Africa’s real

economy. Gender-lens lending also progressed, with 354,156 loans extended to women and women-owned businesses, totalling N67.4 billion, equivalent to 24 per cent of the relevant loan portfolio.

Its Corporate Social Investment programmes reached 2,439,480 beneficiaries across education, health, entrepreneurship and the environment, delivered with partners, including UNICEF, HACEY Health Initiative and the Kenya Forest Service.

Employees recorded 359,500 volunteer hours with 100 per cent participation, while more than 50,000 trees were planted. The group notes that 2025 community figures follow a board-mandated tightening of its impact-measurement methodology and are not directly comparable with prior years. Women represent 49 per cent of the workforce, and the Access Holdings board comprised nine directors with 44.4 per cent female representation. Employee satisfaction rose to 87 per cent against an 80 per cent target, while attrition eased from about 13 per cent to about 11 per cent.

For the second straight year, Access Holdings reported zero material regulatory penalties relating to sustainability and zero cybersecurity breaches.

It mobilised $185.38 million, equivalent to N266.83 billion, in concessional funding from development finance institutions during the year and allocated a sustainability budget of N4.8 billion from profit before tax.

Sales-facing staff in the banking subsidiary carry green-portfolio targets within their individual performance measures, linking strategic sustainability goals to day-to-day execution across governance, strategy, risk management, capital allocation, products and operations.

To strengthen credibility and comparability, the report was prepared using the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, specifically IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, as the primary framework, with the GRI Standards (2021) and the SASB Standards applied as complementary references.

“Our 2025 Sustainability Report reflects the discipline with which we are converting scale into value. We reduced operational emissions by 28.47 per cent,

grew our green asset portfolio to N92.14 billion and extended financial access to about 2.5 million low-income individuals.

“These outcomes show that sustainability is not separate from our business; it is central to how we create value, manage risk and support inclusive growth across Africa,” the chief executive of Access Holdings, Mr Innocent Ike, stated.

Looking ahead, the company promised to deepen the measurable impact of its sustainability agenda, accelerate the transition of its portfolio towards low-carbon and climate-resilient assets, and grow the green asset portfolio towards the N475 billion target.