Access Bank’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Herbert Wigwe, his wife and son died on Friday night in a helicopter crash in California, United States.
Below are 12 quick facts about the late Access Bank CEO
1. Wigwe was born in 15 August, 1966
2. He was the CEO of Access Bank Holding Plc traded as Access Corporation until his death.
3. Herbert was the Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank plc, one of Nigeria’s top five banking institutions.
4. He succeeded Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede in January 2014 as CEO.
5. Wigwe had a degree in accountancy from the University of Nigeria, and MA in Banking and Finance from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor) and an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London.
6. He was an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Programme.
7. Wigwe started his career at Coopers & Lybrand, Lagos as a management consultant, later qualifying as a chartered accountant.
8. He worked at Capital Bank and GTBank where he spent over a decade working in corporate and institutional banking, rising to become the executive director in charge of institutional banking.
9. In 2002, Wigwe and his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede bought into what was then a small commercial bank, Access Bank – at the time, the 65th largest of the 89 banks in the country.
10. Wigwe had also served as the Chairman of Access Bank Ghana Limited, Access Investment & Securities Limited, Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) and was the current Chairman of Access Bank (UK) Limited.
11. In 2016, Wigwe founded The HOW Foundation, a non-profit organization.
12. Wigwe was named 2016 Banker of The Year separately by The Sun and Vanguard newspapers
13..In 2016, in recognition of “his exemplary role in the society and contributions to youth development”, the Boys’ Brigade (BB), inaugurated Herbert Wigwe, as State Patron for Lagos State Council in 2016
14…In 2021, he was also recognised as the African Banker of the Year at the 2021 edition of the African Banker Awards.
15….In October 2022, a Nigerian National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) was conferred on him by President Muhammadu Buhari
May his soul rest in peace