Wigwe Cliché or not; nothing ventured, nothing gained, is as true as it was yesterday, as it is today, and will be tomorrow, which was the chance or risk that Hebert Onyewumbu Wigwe took when as a teenager he started fiddling with numbers. Little did he know then that he was paving the way to his becoming one of the global leaders in the dynamic, and yet uncertain financial services world.
Regardless of the dynamism and uncertainty, Wigwe managed to make a success of it, and sits proudly as the incumbent Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, a Nigerian multinational bank, he co-founded with his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede.
And why not, Herbert was quoted by KPMG as saying that, “For CEOs to thrive in this fast-paced and dynamic environment they must be digitally and technology savvy, understanding the implications of new technologies for their industries and businesses. They must embrace, seek, and create change with a passion, and be ‘tragile’ in their approach – maintaining the right balance between the traditional way things are done and still be agile.”
Such balancing is probably why Access Bank maintains the word, impossible, does not exist, because the lender is willing to break the bonds using digital technology, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to enhance customer satisfaction and product customisation.
The brand
TODAY, Access Bank is ranked among the top five banks in Nigeria, and has emerged one of the leading banks in Africa, with total assets estimated at about N7.28trillion ($18billion), and ranked among the top 500 banks globally, according to leading business valuation and strategy consultancy, Brand Finance.
Over a 12-year period beginning from when he was the deputy CEO, Herbert has grown Access Bank’s balance sheet by 1022 per cent from $901million in 2007 to $19.7billion in 2019, while pre-tax profits rose to $316million in 2019 from $21million in 2007. The profit before tax recorded in 2007 was more than the cumulative profit made by the Bank in the previous 12 years. This also marked the beginning of what would be a six-year triple-digit growth trend.
In 2019, the Access Bank Group delivered a 26 per cent increase in gross earnings of $1.8billion, from $1.4billion in 2018 comprising interest income growth to $1.4billion in 2019 from $1billion in 2018, a 41 per cent growth from previous levels, despite pressures on risk asset growth within the period.
Furthermore, the Bank recorded […]