Access Holdings Targets Further African Expansion In 5-year Growth Strategy

Access Holdings Plc has announced its new five-year strategy in a move to become top five financial services institution on African continent by the end of the strategic cycle in terms of revenues, asset base and on a balanced scorecard basis.

The Holding company made this known in its 5-Year Strategy Document released on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, yesterday.

Access Holdings said: “in two decades, Access Bank has emerged as a leading tier one financial institution in Nigeria, in line with its disciplined execution of rolling 5-year corporate plans.”

It stated that Access Corporation has consistently outperformed the market on the growth of key metrics, saying “we have focused on generating sustainable revenue across all income lines.”

It added that “we have maintained and continue to carry forward a residual dividend policy which ensures we keep our investors in mind as well as provide sufficient capital to fund investment and growth, maintaining a sustainable dividend policy.”

It also noted that across Africa, there is an opportunity for Access Corporation to extend financial services to the unbanked and deepen its financial services offerings to banked customers.

From 2023 to November 2027, Access Holdings explained Net Interest Margin (NIM) is expected to be at least six per cent 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 Return on equity (ROE) returns expected over the next five year as we 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,” it stated.

It added that “By 2027, we expect the Nigeria Bank to be contributing c.52 per cent of revenues compared to c.82 per cent as at nine months 2022. The new verticals will also be contributing c.12 per cent of total revenues, as revenues from African Subsidiaries is expected to double over the next five years.

“PBT contributions from Nigeria Bank is expected to reduce from c.63 per cent (nine months, 2022) to c.33 per cent, while the new verticals are expected to contribute c.19 per cent of the profitability by 2027, while African Subsidiaries will contribute c.20 per cent as our footprint grows across the Continent.”

According to the Company, by the end of 2027, we expect to be in at least 26 countries and in at least three organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries supporting trade (United Kingdom, France & United States of America).

“The customer acquisition drive to hit 100 million for the Retail Business by 2027 will continue, as we migrate majority of customers to digital platforms by 2027 across all touchpoints. Our primary focus on trade is to leverage established presence across trade and financial hubs across the world to continue driving trade outputs