On the 28th of August, 2025, the investing public woke up to a publication from Access Holdings PLC (Accesscorp), the parent company of Access Bank PLC, announcing the appointment of a substantive Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer. This distantly follows the demise of the former GMD/CEO, Herbert Wigwe, one of the cofounders of the bank and holding company on February 9, 2024, more than 18 months ago.
Immediately following his demise, Ms Bolaji Agbede was then appointed as Acting Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Holdings PLC to manage and ensure stability of the corporation, a position she held until August 27 when the new announcement was made.
According to the publication which was made available to the Nigerian Exchange group, Access Holdings PLC appointed Mr Innocent Ike as the substantive Group Managing Director/Chief Executive officer of the company with effect from August 29, 2025 following the receipt of regulatory approval. He succeeds Ms Bolaji Agbede, who served as the company's Acting GMD/CEO for the past 18 months and played a vital role in driving the company's performance, ensuring workforce stability and seamless transition following the demise of the former Group Chief Executive Officer.
During her tenure, she also led the successful execution of the company's N351 billion Rights Issue in line with the CBN's recapitalization directive to the banks, and seamless hosting of two Annual General Meetings of the company. In one of such meetings, we recall the shareholders and shareholder representatives passing a vote of confidence on her, and asking the board of the company to confirm Ms Agbede as the substantive GMD/CEO of the company.
According to the publication, this new development came about as a result of "regulatory stipulations on the required years of experience for a Financial Holding Company's Managing Director". Hence, Ms Agbede has reverted to her substantive role as the Holding Company's Executive Director, Busines Support. Recall that prior to her appointment as Acting GMD/CEO, she had served as Head of Human Resources for the group since 2010. As an aside, could this be one of the reasons investors have not particularly put a premium on the share price of Access Holdings, considering that she did not have long core banking experience as is obtainable with other banks in their league? This is the only FUGAZ bank valued on the NGX at less than a third of its annual revenue.
Mr Innocent Ike graduated from the University of Lagos with a BSc (Hons) in Accounting in 1988, receiving recognition as the Best Graduating Student. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and a Certified IFRS expert. He has over three decades experience in banking and financial services, ten years of which were spent at Access Bank, where he rose to General Manager, overseeing portfolios in corporate, commercial, and public sectors. He had previously served as Group Managing Director/CEO of Polaris Bank Ltd, Director at MainOne, Director at Unified Payment Services, and Founder of Blue Marina Asset Management Ltd, a position which he held until his recent appointment. His LinkedIn profile also highlights previous work experiences with Guaranty Trust bank, Skye Bank, Keystone Bank and Deloitte.
So far the market's response to the news has been quite tepid. The next few days and weeks would show how investors perceive this development.
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