History
The bank was founded in 1988 and incorporated as a private commercial bank in February 1989. It actually began operations on 11 May 1989, establishing its first office located at Burma Road in the Apapa district of Lagos.
In March 1998, Access Bank changed its legal status and became a public limited company and in the same year, on 18 November, entered the Nigeria Stock Exchange.
In 2002, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede was appointed managing director and Herbert Wigwe, Deputy Managing Director, with the mandate of raising the bank from 65th place to the top 10 in 2007.
In 2003, Access Bank raised more than NGN 14.5 billion with a public offering, registering a 133% oversubscription. The same year, the bank received the Hewlett Packard Award for the best implementation of a basic banking application (Flexcube 6.2) in West Africa. The following year, Access Bank acquired Capital Bank and Marina Bank through a merger by absorption and integration.[15]
During 2007, Access Bank became the first Nigerian bank to introduce Visa credit cards in Nigeria[16] and achieved EMV certification for the multi-card ATM services platform. It also received funding from the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries. Access Bank successfully concluded its 3rd public offering in 2008, raising more than US$1 billion.
In 2009, Access Bank merged with the Intercontinental Commercial Bank (ICB)[17] and was listed the same year (2012)[18] on the LSE (London Stock Exchange). A 350 million dollars Eurobond was also successfully raised in parallel.
During 2018, Access Bank announced its intention to acquire Diamond Bank, which had a portfolio of 29 million customers, for US$235 million. The group also announced a collaboration with 25 global banks to develop the principles of sustainable banking and align the sector with the United Nations sustainable development goals, and the launch of Access WhatsApp Banking. Completion of the merger with Diamond Bank was announced in March 2019.
In March 2021, Access Bank announced the acquisition of a stake in Grobank, a South African bank, for US$60 million.[19]
In March 2024, Access Bank Group signed binding contracts to acquire National Bank of Kenya, a subsidiary of the Kenya Commercial Bank Group. The transaction which requires regulatory approval in Kenya and Nigeria, is expected to conclude in Q4 2024.[20]
