The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Access Bank

  • Access Bank promotes easy banking experience on WhatsApp

    Access Bank deepened its commitment towards providing easy banking experience to customers. The lender is using WhatsApp social media platform to bring banking relationship managers closer to its customers.

    Customers can now use the Bank’s market leading and feature rich Mobile App, Access Mobile, available on IOS and Android platforms, to effortlessly engage their Relationship Manager in the provision of customised and responsive banking services, using the WhatsApp messaging platform.

    The service, which is first of its kind in the Nigerian Banking Sector and launched in April 2018, according to Access Bank GMD/CEO, Herbert Wigwe is in line with its vision to change the face of banking on the continent by leveraging innovation and technology, while ensuring that customers are provided with the opportunity to enjoy ease of access and engagement in their banking transactions and maximise their financial opportunities.

    Read Also: Access Bank wins sustainable finance award

    He stressed that the three core values – speed, service, and security – upon which the Bank remains steadfast, requires a high level of innovation and thought leadership which again is demonstrated with this WhatsApp feature.

    “Driving customer intimacy and providing engaging and convenient access to financial services across all channels remain a key focus area for us and we will continue to drive and implement solutions to provide a best in class service for our customers”, Wigwe stated.

    The WhatsApp banking tool for reaching Access Bank’s Relationship Officers is the latest in the series of innovative features championed by Access Bank. Several of these efforts, especially in the areas of customer experience, personal banking and sustainability have fetched recognitions and awards from local and international platforms, the most recent being the Karlsruhe and Euromoney awards.

  • Winners emerge in Access Bank, AFF hackathon

    Team Cosmos Constellation (C-Stell) emerged as winners of the //Re:Code Nigeria Hackathon 2018 themed “Data Hack” which was sponsored by Access Bank Plc in partnership with Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF).

    The team was part of the 115 multiple teams of talented developers, designers, problem-solvers, out-of-the-box thinkers, and code magicians that participated in the event.

    //Re:Code Nigeria Hackathon is an event that brings together developers from diverse background in Nigeria to collaborate in providing innovative solutions to help resolve some of the Nation’s toughest challenges in the financial services industry.

    Participants were grouped into 26 teams to provide solutions to three problem statements, and pitch their solutions to the judges within a time frame of 48hours. The winners went home with a cash prize totalling almost N5million among other prices.

    The winning team this year, Cosmos Constellation (C-Stell) created a system to minimise demurrage contributed by human errors by creating a system that uses optical character recognition to fetch text from scanned documents. It also provides notifications to minimise demurrage and offers the tracking of shipments across ports.

    Team Ace took second place with their solution called TrackIt. They created a system that not only views and gives up to date tracking of shipments, but can check analytics and provide information of all payments accrued and shipments in process or honoured in real time.

    Third place went to Team BAT (Building Awesome Technologies). They created a Smart assistant which leverages Imputed data set, Unsupervised Deep-learning algorithm and Internet of things to aid and guide the users in making informed decision while keeping engagement simple.

  • Access Bank hosts Fintech Nigeria

    The Fintech Association of Nigeria celebrated its first anniversary in grand style as it hosted representatives of its member institutions, regulators, affiliated associations and key players in the Nigerian Fintech space.

    The event was hosted by Access Bank at its African Fintech Foundry facility in Lagos.

    Fintech Association of Nigeria President, Dr. Segun Aina, while welcoming guests and participants noted that the association had been laying a very solid foundation for a thriving Fintech industry since its inception in June 2017.

    According to Aina, the association, under his leadership, has become a rallying point for Fintech and Fintech related activities in Nigeria.

    He said the association’s membership base stands at 52.

    Listing crucial engagements the association has had in the last one year, he said they included:  hosting of IMF/World Bank delegation, co-hosting of Lord Mayor of London City and the DFID UK team, meeting with the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other financial Institutions, amongst others.

    He equally said Fintech Nigeria had engagements with regulators such as Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian Stock Exchange, National Insurance Commission, National Information Technology Development Agency, Federal Ministries of Science and Technology, Communication, Commerce, Trade and Investment and Finance which would go a long way in creating an innovation and investment friendly environment through appropriate regulatory framework for the growth of the industry in Nigeria.

    According to him “the Fintech Association of Nigeria is leading an effort to open us market access and foster cross-border policy regime as it leads the formation of the African Fintech Council, a Council that would be made up of representatives of the National Fintech Associations from the countries in Africa.”

    In his goodwill message, President, the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Nigeria (CIBN), Dr. Uche Olowu, stated that the acceptability, growth and impact of the association within a year of existence played a key role in enlisting the CIBN as a member of the association.

    He discussed the belief of the institute in the interplay between Fintech and the banks as partners in transforming the financial sector.

  • Access Bank wins sustainable finance award

    Access Bank Plc. has again received top honours at the 2018 Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Awards in Germany, emerging as the winner across two categories. This recognition comes barely 24 hours after the Bank bagged the Euromoney Awards for Excellence as “Africa’s Best Bank for  Corporate Social Responsibility” in London.

    The awards ceremony held on July 12, 2018 at the City Hall of Karlsruhe, Germany’s most sustainable city. Access Bank received the Karlsruhe award for “Outstanding Business Sustainability Achievement” in recognition of the Bank’s impressive success in holistically embedding sustainability across all aspects of operations. This marked the third consecutive win for the bank, and further reinforces the institution’s status as an industry pioneer in sustainable development.

    Access Bank  Group Managing Director/CEO, Herbert Wigwe was also honoured for his remarkable leadership and commitment to sustainable development with the “Sustainable Leader of the Year for Africa” award. The award was presented in recognition of Wigwe’s exceptional leadership in driving business transformation through incorporating social, environmental and economic values in the Bank’s operations.

    “We are honoured to receive this level of recognition,” Wigwe said. “At Access Bank, sustainability is a part of our DNA and we promise to continue to be the face of social, economic and environmental developments, which facilitate an inclusive and vibrant economy, business transformations and increase our shareholders value for tomorrow”

    In attendance at the awards were CEOs of leading global financial institutions, senior executives, top German government officials, policy makers, regulators and key sustainability stakeholders.

  • Nestle, Unilever, Nigerian Breweries dominate bears on NSE

    Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the third consecutive day on Wednesday closed on a negative trend, with Nestle leading the laggards’ table.

    Nestle, one of the highly capitalised equity, topped the losers’ chart with a loss of N10 per share to close at N1,500 per share.

    Unilever trailed with a loss of N3.75 to close at N51.25, while Nigerian Breweries lost N2.90 to close at N111 per share.

    Forte Oil was down by N2.90 to close at N26.10, while Conoil dropped by N2.50 to close at N27.50 per share.

    Consequently, the All-Share Index which opened at 37,499.07 shed 106.05 points or 0.28 per cent to close at 37,605.12.

    Also, the market capitalisation lost N38 billion or 0.28 per cent to close at N13.584 trillion compared to N13.622 trillion recorded on Tuesday.

    On the other hand, Eterna Oil led the gainers’ table for the day, increasing by 50k to close at N7 per share.

    Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a gain of 40k to close at N40, while Zenith International Bank added 30k to close at N24.30 per share.

    Read Also: NSE indicators rebound by 0.17%

    FCMB Group advanced by 20k to close at N2.28, while Dangote Cement Industries also grew by 20k to close at N223 per share.

    However, the volume of shares traded rose by 96.49 per cent, while the value increased by 18.11 per cent.

    Specifically, investors bought and sold 505.74 million shares valued at N3.13 billion exchanged in 3,354 deals, as against 257.39 million shares worth N2.65 billion in 3,932 deals on Tuesday,

    Multiverse was the most active stock for the day, trading 200.04 million shares worth N40.01 million.

    NAHCO followed with an account of 125.09 million shares valued at N747.33 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 28.42 million shares worth N1.13 billion.

    Access Bank sold 18.91 million shares worth N195.44 million, while FCMB Group exchanged 13.91 million shares valued at N30.83 million.

    NAN

  • Access Bank wins NHEA award

    Access Bank has emerged winner at the Nigerian HealthCare Excellence Award (NHEA) for ‘Outstanding CSR Health Project of the Year’. The lender received the award  at a ceremony held, in Lagos last weekend.

    The award was presented to the bank in recognition of its strong contribution to sustainable health projects, and its progress as well as commitment to embedding sustainability in its business operations.

    The lender was also acknowledged for driving sustainable development across communities it serves.

    NHEA is an initiative of Global Health Project and Resources in Partnership with Anadach group. The annual Nigerian HealthCare Excellence Award is organized to recognise and commend organisations that have made laudable contributions towards the growth and development of the Nigerian health care sector.

    The focus of the award is to recognize excellence in healthcare delivery and also suggest policy framework for achieving global standards of healthcare across Nigeria while encouraging market leadership and inspirational performance.

    Receiving the award on behalf of the bank, Head Sustainability, Access Bank, Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, said: “Through our strategic investment in health as part of our commitment to impacting the lives of people in communities around us, we have been able to address key health challenges like Malaria, HIV and AIDS, Cancer, Tuberculosis amongst others. The Bank leads change, by influencing transformation, not just in the financial sector but the entire value chain it operates and serves”.

    She added that “over the past 10 years the bank has remained committed to driving Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable best practices, supporting society’s goals by investing in the areas of Arts, Education, Environment, Sports and Health.”

  • Access Bank: there are opportunities in green bond investment

    Access Bank Plc has reiterated the investment opportunities in the Green Bond market, and the need for Nigerians to key into such opportunities.

    Speaking at a roundtable on Nigerian Green Bond Market Development programme at the Access Bank head office in Lagos, the bank’s Executive Director, Risk Management, Greg Jobome, stressed the need for Nigerians to be carried along in the  market to ensure a sustainable future of the country.

    He said: “It is a lead that we have taken for many years. If you recall, at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) award for sustainability, we cleared all the four awards within the banking space. So, it is no surprise. However, we will continue to add value, sustainable products, funding, and financing asset that will impact positively on the environment, clients, and on Nigeria while still making money and giving good returns to our shareholders.”

    According to him, it would be very helpful “if we involve the man on the street and they understand what the green bond is about, but if the government keeps it for experts, treasurers, dealers, analyst, they will miss it. We have to make it all encompassing because it is about sustainable development goals, it is about our children and the kind of world they will live in’’.

    “The little steps we are taking now will hopefully lay the foundation blocks for our world,” he said.

    Jobome, who spoke on a panel during the roundtable on “Why issue green bonds-opportunities and challenges”, noted that with only 0.2 percent of the global bond market taken up by green bonds, “we are not so far behind a d we have the opportunity than the rest of the world. The potential is bigger for Nigeria and Africa, so if we do it right, we will actually dominate the statistics.”

    He noted that there are huge projects that would directly impact the masses that the government can undertake with the proceeds of a green bond saying “there are a lot of things that t we can do now that rest of the world, particularly the developed countries cannot do’’.

    The corporate green bond programme is an initiative that was put forward through a combined partnership between FMDQ OTC Securities, Climate Bond initiative (CBI) and Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) to develop green bonds in Nigeria.

    Last March, the trio signed a cooperation agreement to develop green bonds in Nigeria and foster the issuance of corporate/non-sovereign green bonds, and as part of efforts to understand the market the corporate green bond programme was launched on Thursday.

    Director of Market Development for CBI, Justine Leigh-Bell, said the firm has partnered FMDQ because they are market organisers and infrastructure catalyst that have the local expertise to rally around all participants in the debt capital market.

    She noted that over the last three months, they had been engaging  the government and regulatory bodies, such as the PenCom, Securities and Exchange Commission, CBN, and Development Bank of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Finance, which have been successful.

    Last December, the Federal Government through the DMO raised as much as N10.69 billion, making Africa’s biggest oil producer to become the first on the continent and fourth in the world after Poland, France and Fiji to issue a security that raises funds for environmental projects.

     

  • Access Bank holds CEO awards

    Access Bank has over the weekend, organsied annual Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Awards to celebrate the achievement and commitment of its workforce.

    The Afro-infused black tie event held at the Landmark Event Center in Lagos, showcased great performances from the staff themselves, fun set pieces with palm wine cocktails, Pan-African cuisines and traditional performers with talking drums and men on stilts.

    Access Bank’s Group Managing Director/CEO, Herbert Wigwe who commended staff for their zealous work throughout the year, congratulated recipients of the various awards in different categories.

    He said: “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already; we have the power to imagine better. You all carry the power within each of you to help us succeed most especially as Access Bank is determined to be Africa’s Gateway to the world. Each year, we move several steps closer to that goal”.

    Commending and inspiring all present at the event, Wigwe said: “We do it by all of us here today playing individual and collective roles towards the achievement of the Bank’s goal as well as ensuring our customers’ expectations are constantly surpassed. We must all continue to be relentless in our pursuit of excellence.”

    In line with the bank’s vision to be the World’s Most Respected African Bank, the 2018 CEO awards was designed to celebrate employees who have done the extra to enhance the quality of service provided by the bank and project its image rightly. The award program enhances employee morale, loyalty and increased organisational productivity. The programme also supports the bank’s recruitment campaign, employee engagements and recognises the efforts of its high performing employees.

  • Access Bank, others eye sustainable banking principles

    Access Bank and 25 other global banks from five continents are re-defining banks’ purpose and business model to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.

    Both the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change have set ambitious targets to deliver a sustainable future for all. As two thirds of worldwide finance is provided by banks, the global banking system will be instrumental in achieving these goals.

    Twenty-six of UN Environment Finance Initiative’s banking members are leading an initiative for banks worldwide to reaffirm their purpose and align their business practices with these objectives. Convened by the UNEP FI secretariat, the banks are developing global Banking Principles that will direct banks’ efforts to align with society’s goals as expressed in the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, as well as national and regional frameworks.

    They are also expected to set the global benchmark for sustainable banking drive ambition by requiring signatory banks to set goals for and report on their contribution to national and international social, environmental and economic targets ensure accountability and transparency on banks’ impacts  challenge the banking industry to play a leading role in creating a more sustainable future

    Similar to the role the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) play for asset managers and the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) for insurance underwriters, these standards will address the longstanding need for an umbrella framework to cover all aspects of sustainable banking.

    Access Bank’s Group Managing Director/CEO, Herbert Wigwe said that “Access Bank remains committed to leading efforts in sustainable development across various industry platforms, forging new partnerships with the public and private sectors.

  • KIA partners Access Bank on auto finance scheme

    Kia Motors Nigeria has partner with Access Bank to provide affordable and flexible auto finance options for car lovers.

    Tagged ‘Drive Your Dream, Pay at Your Pace,’ the finance scheme is premised on a hassle-free car ownership offer with as low as 10 per cent equity contribution, free insurance, attractive interest rates, and flexible loan tenure of 48 months to make owning brand new Kia vehicles easy and convenient.

    More often than not, customers are presented with a wide range of options for financing a car or securing an auto loan which makes it difficult to choose a tailor-made scheme that perfectly fit their aspirations. This auto finance scheme is tailored to suit customers’ needs with flexible monthly repayments and is best suited for individuals, organisations, corporate bodies, and institutions to avail a convenient and easy access to finance options, making it easy to drive away their brand new Kia..

    Kia Motors Nigeria Managing Director Jacky Hathiramani, said: “Our core competitive edge in the auto industry is the offering of best in class vehicles at an affordable price and we are delighted to partner with Access Bank to make owning the Kia range of vehicles affordable with flexible payment options.”

    Its Vice President Debanja Paul said: “This partnership represents another step forward in our strategy to ensure our customers have consistently available, transparent and competitive financing. Kia’s vehicles offer modern design and reliability at an affordable cost. And with our special auto finance scheme with Access Bank, it’s never been easier to take home your very own brand new Kia.”

    The Executive Director, Personal Banking Division, Access Bank, Victor Etuokwu said the finance scheme is aimed at making all customers own a brand new car with ease and tailor-made payment options.

    Etuokwu added:“The joint promotion offers a subsidised insurance and registration fee, with improved access to an auto loan to enable customers to drive their dream car.

    “Access Bank vision is to satisfy all its customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Whether you take advantage of on-the-spot vehicle financing at Kia’s showroom or apply for a loan at a branch, an Access Bank car loan is a convenient and flexible way to finance your dream car. We understand that your individual lifestyle demands a certain standard of convenience, Kia and Access Bank partnership is designed to suit your individual needs.”

    The finance scheme has flexible four-year repayment tenure, free insurance, discounted price, low-interest rate and competitive equated monthly instalments.

    The 2018 Kia Rio and KIA  vehicles are covered in the scheme.