Access Holdings PLC (Access Corporation) has been working with a rolling 5-year Strategic cycle Document clearly outlining their 5-year strategy and plans and how they intend to execute, which they publish to the investing public ahead of the next cycle. In 2023, under the leadership of the late Herbert Wigwe (the deceased Group Managing Director) they published their Strategic framework for 2023 to 2027 cycle and did an Investor presentation on it. Ever since they have continued to execute in line with their strategy, even after the unexpected demise of the Company's co-founder and then serving Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe.
Although Access Corporation has been executing in line with their strategy, for some reasons investors have not really embraced that story as it has not reflected in their share price over the years. Their 2027 5-Year Strategy Document (2023 - 2027) has been available online, clearly outlining their expansion plan across Africa and beyond, but it appears like the company has not made much effort to regularly sell the story to the investing public, and how each acquisition aligns with execution of that strategy, and what is in it for shareholders going into the future, hence, the lackluster share price performance over the years. We had referenced this in a previous article, where we wrote about How Femi Otedola’s X (Twitter) Strategy Is Driving First Holdco’s Share Price and Investor Confidence, and had made a case for other companies, especially in the financial institution landscape, to embrace a similar strategy to have better proactive investor relations thereby boosting investor confidence and boosting their market valuation. As we noted, while it is great to run a publicly traded company well with great strategy and execution, it is best when investors price the company correctly on the stock exchange, and that happens when new investors believe the company's value is worth paying higher prices for compared to its earnings. Imagine if investors had priced Access Holdings Share price higher prior to their Capital raise (Rights issue) in 2024, they would have had to issue much less shares than they did, which would have resulted in lower shares outstanding leading to better per share ratios (e.g. Earnings per share), and a win-win for the company and investors alike.
This article is an attempt to summarize Access Holdings Strategy for 2023 - 2027 cycle vis a vis progress made in execution since then based on publicly available information, to help investors have a more wholistic understanding and probably feed into their investment thesis for the company if it is on their watchlist.
First a bit of history, based on strategic cycles from 2003:
Strategic cycle 2003 - 2007 (Moved from 65th to 9th biggest Bank in Nigeria)
- Appointment of Aigboje Aig Imoukhuede as MD/CEO and Herbert Wigwe as DMD
- FMO becomes largest institutional investor through conversion of US$15m term loan
- Established Access Bank UK International subsidiary in 2007 in addition to Gambia & Sierra Leone subsidiaries
- Raised ₦15bn in public issues to meet capital requirements
- Embarked on a cyclical 5 year transformation agenda
- Successful acquisition of Capital and Marina Banks
Strategic cycle 2008 - 2012 (Became one of the Top 5 biggest Banks in Nigeria by 2012)
- Raised ₦136bn in public offerings, including a highly successful and over subscribed GDR
- Issued US$150m loan stock from multinational institutional investors
- Acquired Intercontinental Bank
- Issued US$350m Eurobond
- Passed CBN’s special audit on Governance, Liquidity and Capital Adequacy
- Established Rwanda, Zambia, Ghana & DRC African subsidiaries
- Emerged as the fourth largest Nigerian bank following the acquisition
Strategic cycle 2013 - 2017 (Became one of the Top 3 biggest Banks in Nigeria in 2017)
- Appointment of Herbert Wigwe as MD/CEO and Roosevelt Ogbonna as DMD
- Issued US$400m Tier II Subordinated Notes
- Raised ₦41.7bn in equity capital by way of a Rights Issue
- Issued US$350 million Senior Unsecured Notes
- Transition to a large diversified banking institution present in 9 coutries.
- Designated ‘A Significant Important Financial Institution’ by the CBN
Strategic cycle 2018 - 2022 (Became the biggest Bank in Nigeria in 2022 by customer base)
- Signed a Memorandum of Agreement, leading to a merger with Diamond Bank
- Completed 6 M&A transactions across Africa- South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Cameroon, Guinea
- Issued US$500 million Tier 2 capital & US$500 million AT1 Subordinated Notes
- Issued ₦15bn Fixed Rate Green Bonds and listed on the FMDQ
- OTC Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange
- Unveiled new corporate strategy with intent to become Africa’s Gateway to the World & launched a new brand reflective of the newly merged entity.
- Now in 17 countries- United Kingdom, Dubai, Lebanon, China, Mumbai, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa, Rwanda, Cameroun, Mozambique, Kenya, Guinea, Botswana, Gambia, DRC, Sierra Leone.
- Potential Future Subsidiaries/Countries of Interest- France, Hong Kong, USA, Malta, Senegal, Cote D'voire, Tanzania, Uganda; Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Angola, Namibia.
2023 - 2027 Strategic Cycle: Vison, Strategy and Projections
Having made such immense progress between 2003 and 2022, Access Corporation set out to grow its footprint significantly in the next strategic period (2023 - 2027), capitalizing on their strong Merger & Acquisition capability and ability to build organically to create value with each expansion, gaining relevant scale across Africa, global monetary centers and beyond-banking verticals, thereby diversifying its franchises to high-growth, more mature markets with better sovereign ratings and complementary business landscape to reduce risk in Nigeria. They planned to anchor their international subsidiaries out of Access Bank UK.
To capture all of these opportunities and beyond, the bank reorganized by transitioning to a HoldCo structure consisting of the following verticals- Banking, Payments, Insurance, Pensions, Consumer Lending. These verticals are dispensed through the below 5 subsidiaries (The Access Holdco Ecosystem orchestrator):
- Bank- Retail, Commercial, corporate banking. The Banking group will act as a nexus to drive transformation for the corporation.
- Oxygen- Consumer lending and agency banking. Oxygen is primarily focused on digital loans to consumers (lower and middle income salary earners and self employed individuals) and MSMEs. Products include Traditional consumer and SME lending (such as asset and device financing, personal loans, working capital financing, SME loans), Emerging consumer lending (e.g. Buy now pay later), Savings and investment products, Value added Services (insurance, airtime purchases, payments).
- Hydrogen- Payment and switching services focused on financial institutions and Merchants/SMEs. Hydrogen will be focused on delivering integrated payments solutions through the following products- Card servicing, Merchant payment solutions (POS, e-commerce), switching, and Direct card routing.
- Insurance Brokers- Insurance brokerage focused on providing insurance intermediation and other value added services. Product offerings include Insurance intermediation for all classes of insurance, and Insurance advisory services.
- Pension- Asset Management and Pension Fund Administration, providing affordable pension services by creating a comprehensive and digitally enabled offering. By 2027, Access will be a top 2 pensions player across their markets, 2 acquisitions already completed with benefits already accruing to the Corporation.
Financial Metrics and Ratios Guidance: Liquidity and Profitability
NIM is expected to be at least 6% in 2027, this growth in NIM will be driven by increased lending within the core Bank and by the growth in LendCo’s business which will typically have higher margins on average. Healthy ROE returns expected over the strategic cycle as they continue to maximise returns for shareholders. ROE along with ROA are expected to grow, as a result of improvements in CIR and an increase in footprint across higher efficiency locations.
By 2027, the Nigeria Bank is expected to be contributing c.52% of revenues compared to c.82% (9M’22). The new verticals will also be contributing c.12% of total revenues , as revenues from African Subsidiaries is expected to double over the period (2023 to 2027). PBT contributions from Nigeria Bank is expected to reduce from c.63% (9M’22) to c.33%, while the new verticals are expected to contribute c.19% of the profitability by 2027, while African Subsidiaries will contribute c.20% as the company's footprint grows across the Continent. By the end of 2027, the company expect to be in at least 26 countries, customer acquisition drive to hit 100mn for the Retail Business, and Total number of customers 125m.
The Journey so Far (2023 - 2026)- Execution Progress:
Bank: Moved from presence in 17 countries to over 22 countries, with the addition of France, Hong Kong, Malta, Tanzania, and Angola; while further consolidating in countries where it had existing presence such as Kenya, Zambia, and Sierra Leone. Namibia is still pending with Provisional License granted since 2024, while USA, Senegal, Cote D'voire, Uganda, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo are still pending out of its listed countries of interest. Although operating in over 22 countries represents significant progress toward its minimum target of 26 by 2027, the group still needs to expand into at least four additional markets to meet that goal. Its planned acquisition of Bidvest South Africa recently fell through, and it is unclear if it still continues to pursue expansion opportunities into all of these listed countries of interest or if there has been a change of plan. As at Q3 2025, Access Bank Nigeria contributed ₦200 billion to PAT out of the Holdco's PAT of ₦448 billion, translating to about 45%, signaling less reliance on it in line with the strategy, however a far cry from the conglomerate's strategy expectation.
Oxygen- Consumer lending and agency banking: On the 17th of January, 2024 Access Holdings PLC announced that it had obtained the Central Bank of Nigeria's approval-in-principle to establish a Consumer Lending Subsidiary to be known as Oxygen X Finance Company Limited, which has since been in operation. The subsidiary delivered ₦5.4 billion in revenue and ₦2.2 billion in profit before tax in H1 2025. As at Q3 2025 ₦4.205 billion in PBT and ₦3.154 in PAT.
Hydrogen- Payment and switching services: Access Holdings launched its fintech subsidiary, Hydrogen Payment Services Company Limited (Hydrogen), in September 2022 after receiving approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). While established in 2022, the firm began its major operational activities in 2023, launching several products and processing significant transaction volumes in its first full year. Total transaction value reached ₦41.1 trillion in H1 2025. As at Q3 2025 the subsidiary delivered ₦1.225 billion in PBT and ₦833 million in PAT.
Insurance Brokers: On the 23rd of January, 2024 Access Holdings PLC announced the acquisition of Megatech Insurance Brokers Ltd, an insurance brokerage company licensed and regulated by the National Insurance Commission, and has since incorporated its operations under the Holdco in line with its strategy. It provides intelligent solutions that mitigate the unique risks faced by individuals and business in an ever-changing world using leading risk management tools and governance standards. The subsidiary delivered ₦1.19 billion PBT and ₦845 million PAT as at Q3 2025.
Pension- Asset Management and Pension Fund Administration: Access Pensions Limited first became a subsidiary of Access Holdings following the acquisitions of the former First Guarantee Pension Limited and Sigma Pensions Limited and their subsequent merger. Subsequently, Access Pensions Limited merged with ARM Pensions Managers Limited to then form Access ARM Pensions Limited. Access ARM Pensions Limited is one of Nigeria’s largest Pension Funds Administrator (‘PFA’) by customer base and Assets Under Management, with nearly ₦3 trillion in assets under management and serving over 2 million Retirement Savings Account holders. The subsidiary delivered ₦20.057 billion in PBT and ₦13.438 in PAT as at Q3 2025.
Financial Metrics based on Unaudited Q3 2025 Financial statement:
- Capital Adequacy Ratio = 20.46% (FY 2024)
- Return on Equity 25% = 15.4%
- Return on Assets = 1.3%
- Loan Deposit Ratio = 47.2%
- Cost to Income Ratio = 54.70%
- Net Interest Margin = 8.82% (H1 2025)
- Non performing loans = 2.68% (H1 2025)
The metrics highlighted in red require improvement to meet up with their 2027 plan and guidance.
Final Thoughts – Execution Is Not Enough, Perception Matters for Valuation:
In conclusion, clearly Access Corporation has made a lot of progress since its Investors Presentation of its 5-year Strategic plan in January 2023. From its restructuring to a Holdco structure, to creating and strengthening the Holdco verticals, even amidst the curve balls that the Nigerian economy (its primary market) and life threw at it within the period, including the severe currency devaluation, deregulation of fuel, Banks recapitalisation drive, and the demise of its cofounder (Herbert Wigwe). Its expansion plan to be in 26 countries by 2027 seems to be achievable within the last two years of its current strategic cycle, though that might leave out some of their countries of interest as their pace seems to have slowed. Investor sentiment towards such acquisitions do not appear positive too. It is also possible that with the leadership transitions resulting from Wigwe's demise there could have been some internal modification to the Bank expansion plan aspect of its 5-year strategy cycle that it is currently running. The Financial projections too need some serious sweating of its assets and subsidiaries in order to be realized. In the end, what is important to shareholders is to begin to see value and reward for all the expansion in terms of returns to them.
As we stated at the beginning of the article, investors do not seem to have embraced the execution of Access Corporation's strategy and the story in general, as it has not reflected in their share price over the years. Investors in Nigerian Banks are also dividend oriented, not necessarily growth oriented, which has also affected the share price as Access' dividends have been below its "UGAZ" peers. In addition they might be suffering from a concept referred to as "Conglomerate Discount" where the market values the entity lower than its combined parts. Economists have discovered that the size of conglomerates can hurt the value of their stock, known as the conglomerate discount- the sum of the values of the individual companies held tends to be greater than the value of the conglomerate’s stock (Investopedia). Otherwise how do you explain that a Holdco with a fintech arm with transaction value of over ₦41 trillion as at half year 2025 and a Pension Fund Administration arm with nearly ₦3 trillion in assets under management and serving over 2 million Retirement Savings Account holders, is valued at less than ₦2 trillion on the Stock exchange?
The company should accelerate effort to regularly sell their
growth story to the investing public, and how each acquisition aligns with execution of their strategy, and what is in it for shareholders going into the future. We have seen some improvement in that regard since the H2 2025 result release with accompanying press releases. It appears like it is a new innovation that commenced with the
onboarding of their new Group MD Mr Innocent Ike and is commendable. But they can do more in order to distinguish themselves in terms of
perception to investors as a growth story rather than the usual perception of banks.
Here is where we draw the curtain on this topic. If you want to know more about the Access Corporation Strategy refer to the 'sources' at the end of the article.
Access Bank Media Press releases
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Access Holdings 2023–2027 Strategy: Expansion, Execution Progress & Share Price Disconnect
A 20-Year Strategic Evolution (2003–2022)
H2: The 2023–2027 Strategic Vision
The Five HoldCo Verticals Explained and Execution progress
Why Has the Share Price Underperformed?
Final Thoughts – Execution Is Not Enough, Perception Matters
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