The CEO of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe’s stake in the top banking firm has increased by N986.6 million ($2.39 million).

The bank is a pan-African financial services firm with operations in 12 countries, whereby Wigwe owns a beneficial 4.27 percent ownership in the international group, or 1,517,850,729 ordinary shares.

Shares of the Lagos-based bank closed at N9.5 ($0.023) at press time, up 53 basis points from their starting price on the Nigerian Exchange this morning.

Since Dec. 24, shares in the tier-1 lender have risen from a price of N8.85 ($0.0214) per share to N9.5 ($0.023) at the time of drafting this report due to sustained buying interest among investors and stock traders.

The surge in the bank’s shares caused the market value of Wigwe’s 4.27-percent stake to rise from N13.43 billion ($32.5 million) on Dec. 24, 2021 to N14.42 billion ($34.89 million) on Jan. 7.

This translates to a N986.6-million ($2.39 million) gain for the banker in the past two weeks.

The recent surge in the stock price of Access Bank, which led to the recent gains in Wigwe’s stake, can be linked to the bank’s results for 2021 and expectations of a robust financial performance in the new year.

In the first nine months of 2021, Access Bank posted a profit of N121.9 billion ($294.9 million), up from the N102.3 billion ($247.5 million) that it posted in the prior year.

Recently, the tier-1 lender has resolved to adopt a holding company model in an effort to diversify its operations from its core banking operations to payment service banking, asset management and pension fund administration without any distractions to its primary activities.

The conclusion of the strategic move will see the bank join other financial services providers such as FBN Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, FCMB Group and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc.

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.