Banking
What Affected our 2017 Performance—Access Bank GMD
**Plans N459b Capital Raising
Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Mr Herbert Wigwe, has attributed the not-too-impressive performance of the lender in 2017 to residual effects of macro-economic conditions of 2016.
Mr Wigwe gave this explanation at the bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held this week in Lagos and attended by shareholders of the financial institution.
The bank chief, however, said the bank’s fundamentals remain strong and the group remains poised for sustainable growth in the coming periods.
According to him, despite the slight issue, Access Bank recorded well-rounded performance in 2017 with improvements in all key performance indices such as earnings per share, cost of risk and capital adequacy ratio, which are the major ratios financial institutions are measured by.
“Looking at the top-line of major banks, we are doing well. The new phase of our five-year corporate strategic plan will extensively cover what we could not achieve in the previous phase.
“We shall continue to invest in staff trainings in order to ensure our employees remain one of the best amongst their colleagues in the industry.
“As a customer friendly institution we have set-up an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) centre and ombudsman complaints Call Centre to tackle issues from customers,” he stated at the meeting.
Last year, Access Bank improved its gross earnings by 20 percent to N459.08 billion compared with N381.32 billion recorded in 2016, while the operating income rose to N302.6 billion in 2017 as against N272.6 billion in 2016.
However, the bank’s bottom-line contracted as pre-tax profit dropped by 11 percent from N90.34 billion in 2016 to N80.07 billion in 2017, while the post-tax profit went down to N61.99 billion from N71.44 billion.
During the AGM, shareholders of Access Bank said they were happy with the firm’s consistent dividend payment policy.
They also approved the payment of N18.8 billion cash dividend for the 2017 financial year, amounting to a final dividend of 40 kobo as well as 25 kobo.
Also, the shareholders gave the board of Access Bank the approval to raise up to N459 billion in new debt issue.
This could be raised through the issuance of non-convertible loans, notes, bonds and any other instruments whether by way of public offering, private placement, book building process reverse call inquiry or any other method or combination of methods.
Speaking on this development, Chairman of Access Bank, Mrs Mosun Belo-Olusoga, explained that the increase in the size of the prospective debt issuance demonstrated the commitment of the directors of the bank to strengthening its funding, capital base and profitability through a robust capital structure.
According to her, the proactive issuance programme is underscored by the growing scale of regulatory headwinds and economic realities which have put demands on liquidity and capital.
She said the board deems it necessary to further bolster the bank’s capital and funding base through the issuance of debt securities through any instrument considered appropriate for the bank to meet its growth objectives.
She noted the successful implementation of the bank’s five year strategic growth plan of 2013 to 2017 and the launch of a new five-year plan aimed at making the bank to become Africa’s gateway to the world by 2022.
“As we move on to the next phase of our growth story, the board is positive that we will achieve our growth aspirations through a sustained and sharp focus on our strategic priorities.
“Operating efficiency will remain at the heart of our decisions and we will continue to focus on effective execution of our strategy and on delivering value to shareholders,” Mrs Belo-Olusoga said.
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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