His Big Dream & Why Access Bank’s Herbert Wigwe Is Regarded As The Most Powerful Bank CEO Around

Herbert Wigwe, 54, is regarded as the most powerful Chief Executive Officer in the banking industry.

Societynow.ng gathered that this rating has roots in the influence the man viewed as the definition of style can muster within and outside of his bank.

Unlike other Chief Executive Officers, Wigwe is a co-owner of Access Bank with as much say as his partner, Aigboje Aig- Imoukhuede.

According to checks by societynow.ng Wigwe and his partner Aig-Imoukhuede bought into Access Bank in 2002 and transformed the business entity rated 65th at that time into what is now one of the top five banks in Nigeria- with global recognition thrown into the bargain.

Information at hand revealed that Wigwe who is married to Chizoba Wigwe -nee Nwuba – played a huge part in this feat wielding as much influence and making as much contributions as his partner and immediate past CEO of Access Bank, Aig-Imoukhuede over the years.

Wigwe who is the father of four children – Chizi, Tochi, Hannah and David – spent the years of Aig-Imoukuede’s reign as the top man in the position of his deputy.

“The implication is that Wigwe who became the CEO in January 2014 has spent all his years at Access Bank in positions of power and influence and building his profile and support within the bank and connections and goodwill outside it to be what he is” societynow.ng learned.

According to a source “By virtue of his stake and real worth of his position at Access Bank, Wigwe can act take decisions and act the boss, something a lot of bank CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) lack. Most of them take instructions before speaking” a source claimed.

“That is why he has a strong voice in the community of Bank CEOs. He has been there before all and he’s actually at par with those that many of them report back to” a source offered.

The further digs made by societynow.ng revealed that Wigwe who started his career at Coopers & Lybrand as a management consultant had a spell at Capital Bank and spent over a decade at GTBank where he forged his status as the master in Corporate and Institutional banking and became the Executive Director in charge of Institutional Banking is not content with being labeled the most powerful CEO around.

Societynow.ng gathered that the Alumnus of the Harvard Business School who has a degree in Accountancy from the University of Nigeria and an MA in Banking and Finance from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor) as well as an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London is already executing the strategy to make Access Bank the number one in Africa as a part of his legacy.

More revelations available have it that key to this ambitious project by Wigwe who is a Fellow of the Institute of Credit Administration and an honorary member of the chartered institute of Bankers of Nigeria is to have Access Bank in 22 (Twenty-two) countries within the next five years. And the plan has started unfolding.

“The end result is to ensure that Access Bank plays a prominent role in the large trade undertakings in Africa” societynow.ng gathered.

Insiders insist that strategic to this expansion plan is the Bank’s presence in South Africa (which has been done with the takeover of Grobank), Kenya, Mozambique, and Francophone Africa.

“[Growing customer base and] Payments, innovations are a couple of things that we’re driving and in that space, you will see a few things come up over the weeks… For us, that’s what is important and that’s what’s going to drive our growth.” Wigwe gave insight into the services that would propel the push to be number in Africa for the Bank serving over 6.5 million account-holders, through 350 branches and with more than 1,500 ATMs in major centres across Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the UK in a chat with Bloomberg.