Every bank chief executive, especially those that are publicly quoted are beholden to three groups of people – Shareholders, the Board and the banking public, particularly those who are its customers. Every one of these groups is demanding and the CEO knows that satisfying all of them is key to his or her success on the chair. Take shareholders, for instance. They have put their money together and they own a piece of the bank. They want returns by way of dividend on their investment. So they demand that the CEO leads the bank to produce excellent results so that dividend can be paid to them. The Board, knowing that the shareholders need to be satisfied, they put together broad policies for the executive management, led by the CEO to be guided by so that results can be delivered. The bank customers believe that they deserve nothing but excellent service. The bank would need to deliver this to them so as to retain their trust and confidence and their custom. Without bank customers, the CEO knows that there could be problem that would affect the outcomes of his bank’s activities.
Herbert Wigwe, the Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank is a man who knows all this. Young, energetic and very focused, when you meet him, you would not know that he has been around for such a long time, because his mien belie the over twenty-years he has put into banking, especially the top level and the genuine transformational roles he has played in the industry, especially at Guaranty Trust Bank, which he left as an executive director, and Access Bank, which he and his friend, Aig-Imuokhuede, took over and turned around to become a major player in the financial services industry, not only in Nigeria, but now across Africa and in London, one of the world’s major financial capitals.
Wigwe knows that as chief executive he has his work cut out for him at Access Bank. Not only is he a part of the drafting team of what I would call, ‘the way to go’ of the bank, but he has been involved in the review and redrafting of the policy framework that guides the bank in terms of its vision and mission, not just of the business and banking space, but in the world at large. In July last year, for instance, he and his predecessor, Aig Imoukhuede, launched an ambitious five-year strategic plan for the bank. It was a plan designed to take the bank to its next level of growth and development, especially one that is primed to effectively establish its international credentials and position it as a global player in the world of financial intermediation. With the announcement that Wigwe would take over as CEO, the last six months of 2013 were meant and used as a period of transition, putting Wigwe in a position to fully execute the strategic plan in his first five years at the helm of affairs.
Six months are now coming to an end since Wigwe took over and it would appear as if the smooth but hard grinding work he has been doing since taking over is beginning to show itself. He has been around long enough in the Nigerian, African and global banking scenes to know what to do to respond to the markets that his bank plays in. Those who have observed him at very close quarters tell me that he’s an executive who walks his talks and is very resourceful when he goes on the road looking to originate and close deals that would grow his bank. Since he took over as CEO of Access Bank he’s hit the road running, getting the bank involved in the financing deal that would in the very near future see the biggest refinery and petrochemical operations in Africa come on stream.
The international ambition enunciated in the five-year strategic plan is beginning to unfold and Wigwe is driving it. In April the bank’s shareholders approved the plans presented to them to have the bank raise $1 billion to enhance its operations. This was to be done through the issuance of a Medium Term Note Programme. Last Tuesday, the bank successfully launched a $400 million Eurobond seven-year Tier-2 capital issuance. This was only the first step in its planned capital raising and a longer term plan to get the bank listed on the London Stock Exchange. Wigwe has his eyes firmly trained and his foot is on the pedal.
He knows how important the success being recorded in the drive to really position the bank to be stronger and more international is. “This bond, the largest Tier 2 issuance by any Nigerian bank, will provide us with the additional capacity to focus on our strategy and deliver superior returns to shareholders,” he said. He would then add that: “It entrenches our bank comfortably as a Tier 1 bank and reflects the strong risk management framework which underpins our lending and growth strategies.”
Wigwe understands that positioning a bank for growth and aligning it to the international markets requires that certain standards be attained. And in achieving success with the Eurobond issuance there is clearly an acceptance by the international financial markets that the bank is ticking the right boxes. “The process that has been followed to achieve this successful bond launch has proved that indeed Access Bank is a business that adheres to the highest possible international standards, having achieved the fund raising under both the US SEC’s Reg S and Rule 144A,” he stressed. He also talked about the support of the international bond investors, from which he takes faith in the bank’s strategy of ethical growth, known within the bank as sustainable banking.
Herbert Wigwe, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, with a degree in Accountancy from the University of Nigeria. He also holds an MA in Banking and Finance from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor) and an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London respectively. He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Programme and attended Advanced Management programmes at IMD Lausanne, Switzerland.
He began his career at Coopers & Lybrand, Lagos as a Management consultant before joining Guaranty Trust Bank (now GT Bank) where he spent over a decade working in the Corporate and Institutional Banking Divisions. Wigwe was one of the pioneer staff who created industry defining products and initiatives in Oil and Gas, Telecommunications and Construction. Aside from the founders of the institution, he was one of the three individuals who rose to become Executive Directors in the institution at that period owing to his exceptional capabilities and ingenuity.
He serves on the Board of several organisations, including being the Chairman of Access Bank (UK) Ltd and Board member, Access Bank (Ghana) Ltd, is acknowledged for his defining role on the Board of Friends Africa, an adjunct of the Global Funds committed to galvanizing African governments, the private sector and civil society for the purpose of bringing about sustainable and effective methods of addressing AIDS, TB and malaria in Africa. He is a sustainability champion with personal commitment to a number of orphanages and motherless babies’ homes. Also, his foundation offers scholarship to indigent students in tertiary institutions across the country and has renovated and adopted schools for the purpose of inclusive education.
Phillip Isakpa
