Access Holdings Obtains France Nod For Hydrogen, A Payment Service Firm

Access Holdings Plc has obtained approval license to commence operation in France, the group managing director of the company, Herbert Wigwe has said.

The financial services provider has made some acquisitions in some African countries lately in its quest to become one of the top five in the continent.

The bank’s quest to further expand to Europe, financial experts say is a welcome development and proof that the Wigwe-led conglomerate is focused on making the company one of the top financial services providers in the world.

Speaking on the expansion to France, Wigwe said the corporation is set to launch a new firm Hydrogen in the European economic powerhouse.

The GMD who spoke at the bank’s Statutory Meeting of the shareholders of Access Holdings in Lagos noted that the holding company is focused on its bid to become Africa’s gateway to the world.

According to Wigwe, Hydrogen as a subsidiary of Access Holdings would be supporting intra-Africa trade, in partnership with some Development Financial Institutions, DFIs, for payment across the continent.

The GMD said with Hydrogen on board, Access Bank will be used as a settlement platform for over 30 percent of intra-African trade.

He also assured the shareholders of the company that Hydrogen is not an investment risk, adding that all has been done to “ensure that operational risks will be significantly mitigated.”

He reiterated the bank’s quest for diversification, adding that serious efforts are underway to establish insurance brokerage lending platforms that target young people.

Wigwe said, “We share the fact with you that we wanted to be known as Africa’s gateway to the world and what that meant was that we are going to be responsible for payments across the entire continent, irrespective of where you are and where you’re transferring money from. We are going to support intra-African trade, which is a big problem today.”

“The bank cannot do this alone because these are very specialist skills and it will allow us to be able to ensure that there are settlements even in countries where we don’t have a physical presence. The idea is that wherever you are in the world, if you’re making a transfer to anybody across the continent, one out of every three transactions that come into the continent will be settled on Access Bank’s platform.

“They do have operational risk, obviously, but we do have strong compliance process and technology platform, which we will enhance to ensure that operational risks will be significantly mitigated.

“We will continue to spread across Europe to make sure that at the end of the day, perhaps ten years from now, we would have created a very strong diversified entity, not just relying on Nigeria or Africa but also having a broad diversified income base with good quality earnings coming from countries where the inflation rates are less than that of the country, thereby making us much stronger franchise than any other financial institution in the continent,” Wigwe said.