Access Holdings Plc is intensifying its ambition to reshape Africa’s financial markets, placing stronger capital mobilisation, regional trade integration and wider access to financing at the centre of its continental growth strategy as financial leaders prepare to converge on Luanda, Angola, for the Africa Financial Summit (AFIS) 2026.
The Group, which will participate as a Diamond Sponsor alongside its flagship subsidiary, Access Bank Plc, is using the high-profile gathering to advocate a more impactful role for African financial institutions in driving economic transformation.
At a time when businesses across the continent continue to grapple with financing constraints, fragmented markets and barriers to cross-border trade, Access Holdings wants financial institutions to become more effective engines of economic growth.
Its participation signals a strategic push to move beyond the traditional measure of banking success, which often focuses on geographical expansion, assets and profitability, towards a model that delivers measurable benefits to businesses, households and entire economies.
The Group’s chairman, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, will lead the delegation, which includes Access Bank managing director and chief executive officer, Roosevelt Ogbonna, and Seyi Kumapayi, executive director, African subsidiaries.
Access Holdings Targets a New Era of African Banking
Access Holdings is placing its growing pan-African presence at the heart of its economic transformation agenda.
Through Access Bank’s operations across multiple African markets, the Group has been building a network designed to connect businesses, facilitate regional commerce and extend financial services to underserved populations.
However, its ambition now goes beyond maintaining a presence in different countries. The Group wants to demonstrate how its banking network can help unlock economic opportunities by making financing more accessible and improving the movement of capital across national borders.
This is particularly important as African countries seek to deepen economic relationships, strengthen domestic investment and reduce the obstacles that continue to limit intra-African commerce.
Access Holdings is expected to contribute perspectives on mobilising domestic capital, strengthening regional trade and payments integration, expanding financial inclusion and deploying digital platforms to reach businesses and households that remain underserved.
These priorities place the Group within a broader continental conversation about how Africa can better utilise its financial resources to support productive economic activities.
Scale-to-Value Strategy Takes Centre Stage
One of the defining elements of Access Holdings’ approach is its “Scale-to-Value” orientation.
The strategy is designed to ensure that the Group’s expanding institutional footprint produces tangible value for businesses, economies, communities and shareholders.
The thinking reflects an important challenge confronting African banking. While financial institutions continue to expand across markets, the real economic benefits of that expansion depend on their ability to support productive investment, facilitate commerce and improve access to financial services.
Access Bank’s pan-African network provides an opportunity to address some of these challenges, particularly where businesses require banking relationships that can support their operations beyond their domestic markets.
Speaking ahead of the summit, Roosevelt Ogbonna stressed the importance of financial services that can match the ambitions of businesses seeking opportunities across Africa.
“Businesses need finance that moves across borders as easily as their ambitions do. At AFIS 2026, we will show how Access Bank is turning its pan-African scale into real value by connecting markets, supporting enterprise and widening access to financial services.”
Roosevelt Ogbonna
His remarks highlight the growing importance of cross-border banking solutions in a continent where businesses increasingly need access to multiple markets to achieve sustainable growth.
Africa’s Businesses Need More Than Traditional Financing
The financing difficulties confronting African enterprises remain a major concern for policymakers and financial sector leaders.
Small and medium-sized businesses, which play an important role in employment creation and economic activity, frequently struggle to secure the capital required to expand their operations.
Access to affordable financing is also essential for businesses seeking to invest in technology, improve production capacity, enter new markets and compete more effectively.
Access Holdings is expected to use the summit to highlight how financial institutions can channel more resources into productive sectors while improving the accessibility of financial services.
The Group’s emphasis on digital platforms is particularly relevant as technology continues to reshape how financial services are delivered.
Digital solutions can help reduce transaction barriers, improve access to banking services and connect businesses that might otherwise remain excluded from formal financial systems.
Strengthening regional payment systems could also make it easier for businesses to conduct transactions across African markets without facing unnecessary financial and operational difficulties.
Stronger Partnerships Needed to Transform Financial Markets
Access Holdings is also expected to advocate greater cooperation among financial institutions, governments, regulators, investors and private-sector organisations.
The development of integrated African financial markets requires more than individual banks expanding their operations. It demands coordinated policies, efficient payment infrastructure, regulatory cooperation and investment frameworks that encourage the movement of capital across borders.
Such collaboration could help unlock private investment, strengthen domestic financial markets and improve the capacity of African economies to finance their development priorities.
The discussions are particularly timely as governments across the continent seek innovative ways to finance infrastructure, industrialisation and private-sector development.
AFIS 2026 Sets the Stage for Africa’s Financial Future
Co-hosted by the International Finance Corporation and Jeune Afrique Media Group, AFIS 2026 is expected to attract more than 1,250 African and international financial leaders and regulators.
The summit, themed “Making Capital Count: Unlocking Growth Through African Finance,” will examine strategies for mobilising private investment, directing finance towards the real economy, converting African savings into domestic investment and deepening regional integration.
Access Holdings’ participation gives the Group an opportunity to advance its vision before some of the continent’s most influential financial and economic decision-makers.
The broader challenge, however, will be turning discussions and commitments into practical results.
Africa needs financial institutions capable of supporting businesses beyond national borders, mobilising capital for productive investment and making financial services accessible to a wider section of the population.
Access Holdings is positioning its pan-African network as part of that solution, with its Scale-to-Value strategy seeking to transform institutional expansion into meaningful economic progress.
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