THE ACCESS BANK UK Ltd – charting a course for the futur

Over $100m income milestone for the second year running, 10% year-on-year growth to $111.1m

Post-tax profits increased by 200% from $13.5m in 2020 to $40.4m in 2021. Trade Finance income grew by 9% year-on-year to $55.8m. Commercial Banking customer deposits reached $936m, up 7% year-on-year. Visa debit card added to our portfolio of customer-focused services

After a two year break The Access Bank UK Ltd celebrated hosting the return to its annual Access Bank Polo Day at Guards Polo Club Windsor on Saturday 16 July and reflected on another year of outstanding international business growth. This year The Bank has won Best African Trade Finance award from International Finance for the fifth consecutive year and Best African Trade Finance Bank for the seventh year in a row. Putting customers’ needs ahead of its own sets the standard by which it judges itself and its performance.

Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director of Access Holdings PLC and Chairman of The Access Bank UK Ltd, says “The successes of The Access Bank UK Ltd has been a major milestone in the development of the banking group into the biggest Nigerian Bank in respect of assets and customer base and has charted our course for the future. We set our sights on and delivered ambitious plans to transform the African financial services sector over the last 20 years. Until now, we have concentrated on banking, with the goal of becoming the world’s most respected African Bank. Our banking subsidiary is now Nigeria’s largest bank by assets and Africa’s largest in terms of customer base. It is now time for us to take the next transformative step, where we provide our customers with beyond banking services delivering new interconnected financial services across customers’ needs.”

Our continuing support for the Fifth Chukker -UNICEF initiative reflects our view of our role as a change agent in Nigeria and Africa that can help institute socio-economic development through responsible business practice, social initiatives and environmental consideration.”  “We continue to look for ways to enable more resources to be directed at supporting the children. We are part of the community and as such should support its wellbeing.”

According to Access Bank UK Ltd Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Jamie Simmonds “We are a bank where our growth has been fuelled by the strength of customer relationships. This enables us to develop innovative products and financial solutions for our customers.  We have offices in the heart of the City of London, Dubai and Lagos. We invest significantly in attracting, retaining and developing professional staff in order to ensure customers always deal with an expert who is familiar with their business and personal financial needs, the foundation of our business is relationship management.”

Corporate Social responsibility, balancing economic, environmental and social impact plays a key role in the growth of the bank. The Bank has continued to invest in people despite the constraints of remote working and is proud to be accredited as Platinum in Investors in People.  The Group is actively involved in school projects, child support agency partnerships and the Save a Life initiative. The Access Bank Cup is part of its fund raising in partnership with Fifth Chukker for UNICEF for education projects in northern Nigeria in particular. It is the culmination of a programme of polo competitions across Nigeria and in South Africa. Since the UNICEF/Access Bank initiative was started it has rebuilt schools in Kaduna and has kept more than 8000 students in continuous education. At the same time new school blocks and a computer literacy building all in a more secure and friendly school environment have been developed. The communities surrounding the schools are supported with boreholes for water, and sewing and grinding machines to secure employment and stimulate economic and social development.