Agbede replaces Wigwe as Access Bank CEO

Agbede replaces Wigwe as Access Bank CEO

The company’s Board of Directors has named Bolaji Agbede Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc.

The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) was told about this by the company’s secretary, Sunday Ekwochi, on the following day in Lagos.

Dr. Herbert Wigwe, the company’s former Group Chief Executive Officer, died not long ago, which led to the choice, Ekwochi said.

In a helicopter crash in Southern California, U.S., Wigwe, his wife, son, and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, who used to be Chairman of NGX Group, were all killed. 

Read also: Access Bank issues Nigeria’s first AfriGO card

Meet Bolaji Agbede 

Agbede, who has almost thirty years of experience in banking and business consulting services, was the company’s most senior founding executive director and was in charge of business support before her appointment.

In 1992, she started working as a professional at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB). She worked in different roles in Commercial Banking and Operations, eventually becoming a manager in 2001. 

In 2003, she became the CEO of a business advising firm called JKS Ltd. The following year, she became an Assistant General Manager at Access Bank Plc, overseeing the bank’s chemical trading companies.

Access Bank to Acquire Angola-based Finibanco Majority Stake

Agbede was named the company’s first Executive Director, Business Support, in 2022 after serving as the bank’s Head of Group Human Resources from 2010 to 2022. She has a track record of integrating people well when businesses merge and cultures change.

In 1990, she got her Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and statistics from the University of Lagos. In 2002, she got her Master’s in business administration from Cranfield University in the UK. The Chartered Institute of Management in the UK and the Institute of Personnel Management in Nigeria have members.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has to agree to Agbede’s selection before it goes through.