Two bankers bought Nigeria's 65th-ranked bank in 2002 and made it top five

Access Bank had operated in Nigeria since 1989 but had grown little: by 2001 it ran just 27 branches and ranked 65th out of 89 banks, with poor returns for investors. In March 2002, two Guaranty Trust Bank executives, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and Herbert Wigwe, took it over — Aig-Imoukhuede as managing director and Wigwe as his deputy.

Rather than a quiet fix-up, they set an explicit five-year mandate — reposition Access as one of Nigeria's leading banks by March 2007 — and assembled a new management team to re-engineer and refocus the institution. Many considered the goal impossible given the bank's standing at the time.

The agenda paid off almost immediately: in its first year the bank doubled its balance sheet and posted ₦1 billion in profit before tax, more than its cumulative profit over the previous twelve years. A later US$250 million GDR placement was oversubscribed by 700%.

Year one: balance sheet doubled and PBT hit ₦1 billion, more than the prior 12 years' cumulative profit; Access later became Nigeria's largest bank by assets.

The buyers chose a stable but small bank rather than a distressed one, so management energy went into growth, not firefighting.

A public five-year mandate with a deadline forced urgency and gave staff and investors a measurable scorecard.

Recruiting a seasoned team from top-tier Nigerian banking imported the operating discipline the small bank lacked.

Consecutive acquisitions — Intercontinental Bank in 2011 and Diamond Bank in 2019 — converted the turnaround into scale leadership.

Buying a subscale but stable franchise and imposing a disciplined five-year mandate can beat starting fresh — the licence, branches and staff are the hard part to replicate.

Access Bank acquired Intercontinental Bank in 2011 and merged with Diamond Bank in 2019, creating one of Africa's largest banks by assets and customer base; shareholders' funds passed ₦2.5 trillion with over 920,000 shareholders. Wigwe, CEO from 2014, died with his wife and son in a helicopter crash in February 2024. The group is pursuing a plan to be a top-five African bank by 2027.