…As Access Bank moves to upstage leaders

Access Bank Plc, yesterday, announced its intention to upstage Zenith Bank and First Bank in the Tier-1 banks’ ranking to become the nation’s number one bank.

The third quarter, 2017 (Q3‘17) financial statements of the five Tier-1 banks showed that Access Bank is the fourth biggest bank in terms of asset base, with total assets of N3.54 trillion. Zenith occupies the number one position with N5.1 trillion total assets, followed by First Bank with N4.86 trillion and UBA with N3.77 trillion, while GTB comes fifth with N3.2 trillion asset base.

Analysis of the banks’ gross earnings for Q3‘17 also shows that Access Bank occupies the third position with N365 billion, while Zenith Bank   came first with N531.3 billion followed by First Bank with N439 billion,   UBA came fourth with N333.9 billion and GTB came fifth with N150 billion.

In terms of   Profit before tax (PBT), Access Bank occupies the fourth position with N72.9 billion behind Zenith Bank’s N152.6 billion, GTB’s N150 billion and UBA’s N78.33 billion. First Bank occupies the fifth position with PBT of N55.4 billion.

Access Bank is also presently the fourth biggest bank in terms of customer deposit with N1.92 trillion in Q3‘17, behind Zenith Bank’s N3.1 trillion, First Bank’s N2.93 trillion and UBA’s N2.5 trillion, while GTB occupies the fifth position with N1.89 trillion.

But in a statement issued yesterday, Access Bank announced a five year strategy that will alter the above ranking and make it the nation’s number bank by year 2022 as well as Africa’s gateway to the world.

The bank stated: “The new 5-year strategy will accelerate this growth story to position Access Bank as the No. 1 Nigerian bank by 2022 and create a Universal Payments Gateway to dominate international trade and inter-African payments. The new strategy has six strategic levers: Digitally led; Retail banking growth and consolidation in wholesale markets; Customer focused; Analytics driven, with robust risk management; Strong global collaboration in key gateway markets; And the creation of a universal payments gateway”.

According to the bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, “Five years ago we set the ambitious goal to attain top three positions in our chosen markets. Today, we are a strong, diversified institution with a consolidated top tier position in our sector.

“We are setting out a new and ambitious five-year strategy which will put Access Bank at the forefront of Africa’s changing financial landscape by creating a Universal Payments Gateway to dominate international trade and inter-African payments.”