Herbert Wigwe bowed out of this world on Friday 9 February 2024. While at Access Group, he oversaw the monumental growth resulting in Access Bank emerging as not only a tier-one bank, also among the biggest banks in the country in terms of assets, deposits, loans and advances, and profitability.
From 2018 to 2022, the bank left no one in doubt regarding its drive to be the first port of call for financial products and services in Nigeria and beyond.
Loans to customers grew by 142.9 percent from 2018 to 2022, from N1.68 trillion to N4.08 trillion. Total assets increased by 202.2 percent from N4.95 trillion to N14.97 trillion during the period.
Deposits from customers grew by 260.7 percent from N2.56 trillion to N9.25 trillion. Equity grew tremendously from N490.51 billion to N1.23 trillion. In terms of profitability, the bank increased its bottom line by 66.5 percent, from N94.02 billion to N156.54 billion during the period.
Access Bank currently operates in 14 countries through its subsidiaries, and representative offices in four other countries.
Headquartered in Nigeria, Access Bank has 554 branches in the country as of the end of 2022. It has 19 branches in Botswana; one in Cameroon; 17 in DR Congo; 54 branches in Ghana; 2 in Guinea Conakry; 25 in Kenya; 11 in Mozambique; 7 in Rwanda, and 6 in Sierra Leone.
The bank also has 6 branches in South Africa; 6 in The Gambia; 3 branches in the United Kingdom; and 18 in Zambia.
Access Bank has a representative office each in China, India, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates.
Access Bank executed a number of high-profile acquisitions before becoming what it is today. In Nigeria, it acquired Intercontinental Bank, Diamond Bank among others. Outside the country, it acquired the Standard Chartered Bank’s banking businesses in Angola, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.
From 2020 to 2021, it acquired a number of banks in Mozambique, Zambia, and South Africa, in a bid to become Africa’s gateway to the world.
In 2019, it listed Africa’s first fully certified corporate Green Bond on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
In 2018, it collaborated with 25 global banks to develop the Principles for Sustainable Banking and align the sector with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2015, Access Bank launched lending programme for Ghanaian companies, backed by the European Investment Bank. It also organised the 2nd Access Conference attended by founders of Facebook, Apple and Air Asia, along with other global leaders in technology and innovation.
Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe CFR was a Nigerian banker and entrepreneur. He was the CEO of Access Holdings Plc, traded as Access Corporation. Herbert was the Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s top five tier one banks. He succeeded his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede from January 2014 to April 2022.
Wigwe had a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Nigeria, a Master of Arts in banking and finance from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor), an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London. He was also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Program.
Wigwe started his career at Coopers & Lybrand, Lagos as a management consultant, before he later qualified as a chartered accountant. After a stint at Capital Bank, he joined Guaranty Trust Bank where he spent over a decade working in corporate and institutional banking, rising to become the executive director in charge of institutional banking.
In 2002, Wigwe and his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede bought Access Bank. Between 2002 and 2017, the bank went from being the 65th largest in Nigeria to the 4th largest bank in the country.
Wigwe also served as the chairman of Access Bank Ghana Limited starting in 2013. Access Investment & Securities Limited, Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) and was at the time of his death the Chairman of Access Bank (UK) Limited. He was a board member of Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company and a member of the advisory Board for Friends Africa. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN – FCA), a Fellow of The Institute of Credit Administration, and an Honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.
From January 2014 until his death, he was CEO and group managing director of Access Bank.
Wigwe was involved in the creation of ‘Thought-Leadership Series’ known as The Access Conference. The biennial event is Access Bank’s response to a global call for corporate involvement in resolving the major challenges facing humanity.
Since its inauguration in 2013, the Access Conference has consistently engaged global leaders by provoking debates on issues of threats and opportunities to the world. In the 2013 edition themed ‘Sustainable Leadership’, Wigwe spoke alongside George Bush, Nicolas Sarkozy and John Kufuor, reaffirming the importance of leadership to national and corporate successes.
At the 2015 edition, Wigwe hosted global leaders such as Steve Wozniak, N. R. Narayana Murthy and José María Figueres, Muhammad Yunus and Ted Souder (Head, Industry (Retail) at Google for discussion of the theme ‘Leading in a Transformational World – The Imperative of Innovation’.
Wigwe, Access Bank and UNICEF have a collaboration in place to offer support to vulnerable children, orphans and internally displaced persons in the northern part of Nigeria. To raise awareness for this purpose, the bank organizes the annual high-profile Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield Polo tournament.
In 2016, Wigwe founded The HOW Foundation, a non-profit organization. In February 2017, he was named co-chair of Nigerian Business Coalition against AIDS (NiBUCCA), a private sector initiative to help eradicate HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and support people living with the condition.
Wigwe himself was named 2016 Banker of The Year separately by The Sun and Vanguard newspapers, two of Nigeria’s leading newspapers.
In recognition of “his exemplary role in the society and contributions to youth development”, the Boys’ Brigade (BB), inaugurated Herbert Wigwe, as State Patron for Lagos State Council in 2016.
In October 2022, a Nigerian national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) was conferred on him by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He was married to Chizoba Wigwe (née Nwuba) and had 4 children: Chizi, Tochi, Hannah and David. He hailed from Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, but lived and worked in Lagos.
Herbert Wigwe was confirmed dead alongside five other people on 10 February 2024 after their Eurocopter EC130 crashed near Nipton, California, in the United States of America, on 9 February 2024.
The five others included his wife, his son, former Group Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc Abimbola Ogunbanjo and the crew.
