The career of Nigerian banker and businessman Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe is a prime example of the transformations in West Africa’s banking sector during the new millennium. Through his partnership with Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Wigwe transformed a small, relatively insignificant commercial bank into one of the largest and most influential financial groups on the African continent.
Herbert Wigwe was born on August 15, 1966, in Isiokpo, Rivers State, in southern Nigeria, into a family with a long history of international officials and civil servants. He received his early education in Nigeria before attending the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting in 1987.
Wigwe continued his advanced academic studies in the United Kingdom, obtaining a dual specialist qualification in finance and accounting. He earned a Master of Science in Banking and Finance from the University of Wales (Bangor) and a Master of Science in Financial Economics at Imperial College London. He later completed the Advanced Executive Management programme (Harvard Business School). This combination of practical accounting and financial economics provided him with an analytical foundation that later enabled him to assess risk and deconstruct the balance sheets of financial institutions targeted for acquisition.
Wigwe began his career in accounting and auditing at Coopers & Lybrand, which later became part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) network. This experience allowed him to understand the mechanisms of financial control and asset valuation in Nigerian companies.
He then moved into direct banking with Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank), one of Nigeria’s emerging banks in the 1990s that adopted a modern technological and management approach to challenge traditional banking institutions. Wigwe rose through the ranks at GTBank to become the Executive Director responsible for Corporate Finance and Commercial Banking.
During his time at GTBank, he developed a close relationship with his colleague, Agbuya Aig-Imoukhuede, and they shared a common vision of acquiring and radically transforming an existing banking institution rather than simply climbing the corporate ladder within established entities.
In 2002, Wigwe and his partner, Aig-Imoukhuede, took a pivotal step in their investment career by acquiring a controlling stake in Access Bank, which at the time was a small commercial bank ranking low (below 70th) among Nigerian banks in terms of assets and deposits.
Aig-Imokhwede assumed the role of CEO, while Wigwe became Deputy CEO. Their initial strategy focused on several key areas:
- Capitalisation: Meeting the minimum capital requirements subsequently imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2004.
- Talent Acquisition: Restructuring the workforce and implementing rigorous governance standards.
- Corporate Expansion: Capitalising on the rapid growth in Nigeria’s oil and gas, telecommunications, and infrastructure sectors.
In 2014, Herbert Wigwe succeeded his partner as CEO and direct counterpart of Access Bank Group. His leadership saw an acceleration of the group’s expansion model, driven by strategic acquisitions and mergers:
Major Acquisitions
- Intercontinental Bank (2012): A pivotal participation in the acquisition of one of the largest banks affected by the 2008 financial crisis, providing Access Bank with a vast branch network and extensive customer base.
- Diamond Bank (2018/2019): This transaction marked a turning point, as Access Bank combined its corporate finance strength with Diamond Bank’s excellent digital and retail banking network, creating the largest bank in Nigeria by customer base and asset size.
Wigwe’s vision extended beyond Nigeria to encompass pan-African and global financial centres. The bank established a presence in more than 12 African countries (including Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, and Rwanda), in addition to operating a major branch in London to facilitate trade between Africa and Europe.
In 2022, Wigwe oversaw the bank’s restructuring into a holding company called Access Holdings Plc, allowing the conglomerate to expand into digital payments, insurance, and asset management, alongside traditional banking. His activities extended beyond the financial sector to include education and social development. He founded the Herbert Wigwe Foundation, which focuses on health, education, and social welfare in Nigeria.
One of his most prominent non-financial projects was Wigwe University, established in his hometown of Isiokpo with investments exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars. The university aimed to provide world-class university education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), along with business administration, with the goal of reducing the brain drain from Africa and providing high-quality education within the continent.
On February 9, 2024, Herbert Wigwe died at the age of 57 in a helicopter crash near Nipton, California, United States. The crash also claimed the lives of his wife, Chizoba, his son, Chizi, and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the former chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group.
Wigwe is credited with his exceptional ability to manage complex mergers and acquisitions, transforming a small local bank into a financial institution with billions of dollars in assets serving tens of millions of customers. His approach also contributed to promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria and the region through digital expansion.
