Access Bank: The making of a global brand

At a time when many financial institutions were struggling to survive, efforts of the spin doctors behind the Access Bank brand, has positioned the brand ahead of competitions as the Bank of the Year at the 17th annual bank of the Year awards, held in London, AKIN ADEWAKUN reports.

Taking a business from the level of a company to a recognisable brand is always the desire of most business owners. However, experiences over the years have shown that starting a business is easier than building a brand. That is why it is easy to list many companies while statistics of successful brands are minimal. This notwithstanding, a recognisable and loved brand is one of the most valuable assets a company owns.

Like few Nigerian brands that have become household names in the market, Access Bank entered the market humbly about 26 years ago but with the ambition of becoming a solid brand that would command respect in many sectors. From day one, its handlers were able to know early enough that branding was much more than just a cool logo or well-placed advertisement.

Promoters of the Access brand followed a simple rule of branding; they started small with their branding and didn’t forget to focus on their target niche and audience first. They also craft a clear expression of what their company was most passionate about. Within a short time, the bank turned to a major player in the banking sector focusing on four business segments: Personal, Business, Commercial and Corporate & Investment banking.

Few weeks ago, the innovation and creative ingenuity of its handlers paid off as it was named ‘Bank of the Year’ at the 17th annual Bank of the Year awards black-tie dinner in London. To analysts, the feat was not by accident, considering various positioning tools deplored by the bank’s promoters in the last 10 years.

International awards

The Bank of the Year award, which validates other nine international honors earned by the bank over the past ten months for operational excellence, responsible business practices and innovation, is unarguably one of the most coveted awards in the banking sector globally.

Presenting the award, Michael Buerk, BBC News journalist, commented “In spite of the challenging operating environment and rapid changes in the industry, Access Bank has remained a formidable institution.  Specifically, the Bank has been a purveyor of innovation in the Nigerian banking space and consistently outperformed industry forecast.  It is firmly believed that it’s operational model, risk management and governance framework, which enable sustained superlative financial performance need commendation.”

Although this view is consistent with Analysts’ opinion on the bank in the past one year, but its Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe who received the award for the bank said, “While innovation, excellent risk and corporate governance framework might be the advantage we have over our competitors, the bank is propelled by a vision of becoming the world’s most respected African Bank, and this requires us to do things differently to standout. He thanked the bank’s stakeholders for their support and assured them of improved performance in the years ahead.”

Over the years, Access Bank has established a reputation as one of the most formidable financial institutions in Nigeria. This is unconnected with its impressive growth trajectory and contributions to the development of the Nigerian economy through empowerment initiatives and practical SME schemes.  As an acclaimed innovative industry pioneer, the Bank has remained the choice of international financial organizations and multilateral agencies seeking partnership in Nigeria.

The bank is particularly excited about its emergence at the ‘2016 Bank of the Year’ because the award is renowned as a valuable reward for banking excellence, and recognition for achievements of outstanding individuals and exceptional institutions in the global banking landscape.

The Banker Awards is an annual event of the Banker Magazine, a publication of the Financial Times of London and world’s leading monthly journal of records for the global banking industry, with expertise in publishing developments in the African banking industry and beyond for more than 90 years.

Innovation

As a bank that is being driven by innovation, a lot is daily being invested in technology to make banking seamless in all the markets where it operates. Generally, things are happening so fast in the banking industry that many would think it is the only sector being driven by technology. The reason is simple; banking concerns all, whether old or young. But with many faces of online transactions that have been developed over time, the entire banking audience seems to be enjoying a kind of honeymoon. As the banking public continues to adjust positively to the new regime, promoters of various banks in the market have also seen the need to raise the bar in the area of innovation to give more value as well as having competitive advantage over others. To achieve a seamless mobile money services, most operators are re-jigging their mobile money strategies.

Few months ago, Access Bank broke a new ground in innovation by introducing PayWithCapture, a mobile payment solution that permits customers to make payments by scanning a merchant’s pre-generated QR-Code using the camera of their mobile device or via a one-step Beacon-NFC System. This is happening at a time a consortium of six banks and Unified Payments inaugurated PayAttitude, an electronic payment scheme that allows transactions in both online and offline platforms. The two products, though share some features, they are different in many areas. The bottom-line however is that both are introduced to create a hitch free transaction for consumers.

Recently, the bank launched the country’s first corporate-focused internet banking solution – “Primus” to ease the complexities of daily supply chain and financial management of blue chip companies.

The multi-transaction management software dubbed “a 21st century-game changer,” is one of the 200 initiatives announced by the bank in July after the presentation of its five-year strategy for 2013 to 2017.

According to Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, the product “does not exist in the Nigerian banking industry” and “will make every bank in Nigeria to rise to the occasion.”

The Access Bank Innovation Challenge is a competition that invites teams of contestants to develop innovative solutions to Nigerian societal, infrastructural and environmental challenges, and provides them with educational guidance along the path to prototyping and possibly implementing their projects.

The 2016 Access Bank Innovation Challenge focused on the Internet of Things (IoT), which connects billions of smart devices to the Internet.

Cities all over the world have developed data-driven IoT systems that have enhanced infrastructure and security, decreased traffic congestions and improved public transportation.

Participants had undergone training in the IoT for three days from Tuesday April 26 to Thursday April 28. Following these successful workshops on Arduino kits and 3-D printing state-of-the-art tools to help them  build  the  sensors,  devices  and  software for  their  solutions, Lagos Labs 2016 hardware hackathon commenced on Friday April 29.

A total of 15 teams formed by the 76 attendees worked on solutions to problems in Agriculture, Transportation, Security, and Power. The most promising teams will receive equipment, funding and mentorship to further develop and implement their ideas.

Access Bank’s N1million prize money was shared amongst the top three winners. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners received the sum of N500,000, N300,000 and N200,000 respectively.

Victor Etuokwu, executive director, Personal Banking, Access Bank Plc, who addressed participants during the training workshops said one of the Bank’s core values is ‘Innovation’ and this is visibly rooted in the culture and attitude of the employees of the Bank.

“When we talk about technology innovation, it is something dear to us at Access Bank. Innovation is unique because without innovation, we would not   make   the   progress   we   seek   to   make. In Nigeria, we are in dire need of so many things and technology is one of the tools we can apply to every area of our economy. In Access Bank, we have used technology to change so many aspects of our operations,” he added.

Some of Access Bank’s Innovative solutions are Primus & Primus – Lite (Corporate Internet banking solutions), PayWithCapture (digital banking solution), Maternal Health Support Service (MHSS) and AccelerateTV ( a digital platform for Youths).

With a full service commercial Bank operating through a network of about 305 branches and service outlets located in major centres across Nigeria, Sub Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom, the recent award might be the confirmation of the bank’s leadership position in the market and a signal to the brighter future ahead .