One of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, Access Bank PLC has completed its restructuring into a Holding Company structure known as Access Holdings Plc.
In the company’s notification to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) last Monday, the company revealed that; “Mr. Bababode Osunkoya will be the Chairman while Mr. Herbert Wigwe will remain as the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc.”
For the banking subsidiary, Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna was appointed as the Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Victor Etuokwu as Deputy Managing Director (North), and Mrs. Chizoba Okoli, Deputy Managing Director (South).
Under the new re-organisation, Access Holding Company Plc would serve as the parent company for the group – Access Bank Nigeria and its many subsidiaries.
The parent company now holds 100 percent shares of Access Bank Nigeria and 100 percent shares of all non-banking subsidiaries of the bank. While Access Bank Nigeria now owns all its banking subsidiaries (15 in total) and all its three representative offices in India, China, and Lebanon.
Other members of Access Holdings Plc board are Mr. Abubakar Jimoh (Independent Non-Executive Director), Mrs. Fatimah Bello-Ismail (Independent Non-Executive Director), Mrs. Ojinika Olaghere (Non-Executive Director), Mr. Olusegun Ogbonnewo (Non-Executive Director), Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna (Non-Executive Director), Mr. Oluseyi Kumapayi (Non-Executive Director) and Ms. Bolaji Olaitan Agbede (Executive Director).
The new MD of Access Bank, Roosevelt Ogbonna has been the Bank’s Deputy Managing Director since 2017. Prior to 2017, he was appointed as Executive Director of, Commercial Banking Division in October 2013.He is a through-bred and consummate professional with over two (2) decades of banking experience having joined Access Bank in 2002 from Guaranty Trust Bank.
Mr. Ogbonna has a very professional cum academic background. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA), an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (HCIB), a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executive.
The new DMD (North) Victor Etuokwu was appointed Executive Director of the Bank in 2012 and his appointment was renewed in 2022 following the expiration of his second term. He has approximately three (3) decades of banking experience cutting across Operations, Information Technology, Business Development, and Retail Banking.
He commenced his professional career in Citibank Nigeria where he served in various capacities including Head, Operations, and Records and Reconciliations. He joined the Bank in 2003 and has led several critical projects including the mergers with the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc.
Mr. Etuokwu holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Ibadan and the University of Benin, respectively. He is an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and represents the Bank on the boards of E-Tranzact Plc and Unifies Payment Services Limited.
Mrs. Chizoba Okoli, The New DMD (South) is a seasoned professional with almost three decades of banking experience, she commenced her professional career in 1992 as an Executive Trainee in the defunct Diamond Bank Plc where she distinguished herself and rapidly rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director in 2016. Following the Bank’s merger with Diamond Bank in 2019, she was appointed Executive Director, Business Banking Division by the Bank.
Her experience cuts across commercial and consumer banking; corporate banking; branch banking, institutional banking, business banking and business development.
She obtained a Bachelor’s of Law degree from the University of Benin and a Master’s in Business Administration from Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. She is an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and a Member of the Institute of the Credit Administration of Nigeria.Access Bank has always stated its mission to become one of the largest financial services providers continent-wide. Over the past few months, Access Bank, like many of its peers has set forth on an expansionary course to build a stronger brand capable of taking on a larger market share of a continent striving for financial inclusion.
Its expansionary drive could not have come at a better time with many Tier-1 banks moving to HoldCo structures, FinTech standing as the next big thing, and the African economy desperately in need of strengthened financial systems.