The bank created a strong digital active client base from its acquisition of Diamond Bank which had a large retail portfolio and strong digital platform.
January 20, 2021 | Chris KapferAccess Bank Nigeria is one of the largest financial service conglomerates in Nigeria with core expertise in corporate banking and capital management. Retail banking contributed 18% to total group revenues before its merger with Diamond Bank in 2019. Access Bank’s ambitious plan to build a much larger business footprint to become one of the top five banks in Africa required managing better some of the liquidity and funding pressure. A larger retail business became paramount along this growth trajectory.
In 2019, Access Bank acquired Diamond Bank’s large retail portfolio and strong digital platform. By the end of 2019, the merger created one of Nigeria’s largest banks with over 30 million customers and total assets of $20 billion. In the same year, its retail business (excluding MSME banking) expanded nearly five-fold from $128 million to $625 million contributing eventually 34% to the group revenues. The merger provided a wider customer pool of both salaried and self-employed access to the bank’s full range of lending products such as personal loans, school fees advance, vehicle and asset finance and home loans.
The bank wants to grow to 100 million customers by 2023 and establish presence in 22 African countries over the next five years. Access Bank’s recent expansions into Kenya, Guinea, and the Republic of Cameroon are the first steps towards its African gateway.
Access Bank commands a digitally active base of 39% and generates more than $2 million in digital microloans daily primarily under its USSD and WhatsApp platform as well as the ‘Quickbucks’ app on a smartphone, contributing 90% to its overall personal loan business. The bank onboarded more than 80% of its customer via USSD and smartphone app. Its efforts in building a digital ecosystem focus on payments, including FacePay and Whats App banking. The bank digitised over 75% of service requests and transactions including investment bookings, cardless cash withdraw...
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