Access Bank Plc has announced the successful acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank’s subsidiaries in Angola and Sierra Leone.
Company secretary Sunday Ekwochi disclosed this in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The acquisition is part of a broader agreement signed in July 2023 between Access Bank and Standard Chartered. The agreement included the purchase of Standard Chartered’s shareholding in its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone, as well as its consumer, private, and business banking operations in Tanzania. Each transaction required approvals from local regulators and Nigeria’s banking authorities.
Commenting on the successful acquisitions, managing director/chief executive officer of Access Bank Plc and CEO of the Banking Group Roosevelt Ogbonna stated: “We are pleased to have successfully concluded two important acquisitions in Angola and Sierra Leone, affording us synergies to strengthen the quality of our earnings from both countries by significantly growing our share of the Corporate and SME banking in the two markets.
“The combinations represent another significant step towards our broader vision of becoming the world’s most respected African bank.”
Access Bank confirmed that work is ongoing to finalise acquisitions of Standard Chartered’s subsidiaries in Cameroon and The Gambia, along with its consumer, private, and business banking division in Tanzania.
In addition to these African acquisitions, Access Bank UK has agreed to acquire a majority stake in AfrAsia Bank Limited, Mauritius’s fourth-largest bank by total assets, valued at $5.7 billion as of mid-2024.
Access Bank UK intends to use Mauritius as a strategic hub for trade finance, wealth management and corporate banking, further advancing its ambition to expand its footprint across the African continent and beyond.
