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The African electronic payments market is expected to grow at 18 to 20 per cent per annum until 2025, reaching $27 billion, up from $8 billion in 2018.
Growth is expected to be driven by GDP growth, an ongoing shift to non-cash transactions accelerated by the COVID-19 crises.
These were the projections of Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe, on Tuesday at its investor engagement forum, held virtually in Lagos.
Wigwe said growth is expected to slightly outpace the historical performance of 19 per cent per annum from 2018 as against 16 per cent per annum from 2012 to 2018.
Despite investment in organic and inorganic growth in the past, he said the Bank has improved its capital ratios, given optimum capital structure
According to him, emphasis would continue to be on capital retention and strengthening the bank’s capital position.
He said the financial institution has maintained strong capital levels despite investments for growth, accumulating capital over time.
Wigwe said the company would realign for growth through transitioning to a HoldCo to capture continent-wide opportunities and support the international expansion.
He disclosed that the HoldCo would consist of four subsidiaries – payment business, consumer lending and agency banking as well as an insurance brokerage.
He said that Access Bank was in partnership with Coronation Insurance to offer insurance products to the bank’s customers. According to him, Access-Coronation bancassurance is already available in Nigeria and Ghana.
Wigwe said that the insurance subsidiary would adopt a dynamic and creative approach to deliver value-added services to meet customer insurance needs.
He added that the bank planned to open subsidiaries in consumer lending and agency banking to enhance revenue.
Wigwe noted that the bank’s Africa strategy was supported by its presence in key international markets. He explained that the strategy would enable the bank to diversify earnings from the volatile operating environments in Africa and orchestrate operations as a global payments gateway.
