Access Bank, one of the five main banks in Nigeria, created in 2002, has just opened a subsidiary in Paris. Active in 18 countries on 4 continents, through mergers and acquisitions, absorption, etc., the financial institution specializing in international trade financing has just obtained the approval of the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR) to practice in France. Indeed, the Nigerian bank aims not only to expand, from its Paris base, into several French-speaking African countries, but above all to create opportunities for international investors interested in African markets. The aim is to facilitate the movement of capital, goods and services across borders. The Bank intends to leverage its expertise in transcontinental trade as well as its strong network of partners and clients. "We believe the bank's international expansion will support its strategy to become an aggregator of cross-border transactions across, to and from the African continent, including international payments and remittances, trade finance transactions and correspondent banking," noted ratings agency Moody's in an analyst note released in 2021.
The choice of Paris is far from trivial. Nigeria is one of the countries with which France has strengthened ties in recent years, to get out of its historical area of influence. The Head of State, Emmanuel Macron, has kept ties since his internship at the ENA, carried out at the French Embassy. He went there in 2018, and supports several initiatives, such as the creation of the Franco-Nigerian Business Council, created in 2021 to strengthen ties between businesses in the two countries. It is precisely Herbert Wigwe, CEO of Access Holdings PLC, who has just taken the lead. "The objective is to support trade between France and Africa," he told several French media during the inauguration on May 15.
While several Nigerian banks are already well established in France, such as the First Bank of Nigeria (licensed in 2007) or the United Bank for Africa through a representative office (since 2009), Brexit has pushed several international banks to review their positions, and many are those who have chosen to be present in a country of the European Union. This is the case of Access Bank, which has a strong presence in the United Kingdom with 200 people and $130 million in revenue.
“Today Access Bank has a very strong presence in the UK, but in the wake of Brexit there was a need for us to establish a presence in another country in Europe and France provides us with a platform very strong to do so. Beyond that, Access Bank has a large presence in the French-speaking world which is significantly – in terms of trade – dependent on France, so Access Bank in Paris will work to support business opportunities and trade finance solutions to businesses in these regions, ranging from large conglomerates to SMEs and more,” said Herbert Wigwe, the boss.
In recent years, many international banks have pulled out of the African continent or downsized. Access Bank can boast with a little less than 30 billion dollars in assets and 58 million individual and corporate customers, to have, on the contrary, conquered new countries such as Mozambique, Ghana, Kenya, Africa of the South, but also the Congo or Rwanda. In its five-year plan, the Nigerian bank wants to expand to 26 countries by 2027.
