Access Bank set to acquire 80% interest in Uganda’s Finance Trust Bank

Access Holdings announced that its subsidiary, Access Bank, is set to acquire a majority stake in Uganda’s Finance Trust Bank. Subject to approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Uganda, Access Bank will hold 80% of shares in the East African Finance Trust Bank.

The definite agreement was disclosed by Sunday Ekwochi, Access Holdings’ Secretary, in a statement submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) for the investment public and involves the institutional shareholders of Finance Trust Bank.

This deal comes amidst struggles by Ugandan commercial banks to meet new minimum capital requirements, providing Finance Trust Bank and its stakeholders a chance for substantial capital infusion.

As part of the deal terms, both banks will merge their technological resources, allowing Finance Trust Bank to leverage Access Bank’s significant presence in over 20 countries for expanding its operations.

This collaboration between Access Bank and Uganda’s commercial bank will facilitate financial inclusion, customer-centric services, and product innovation.

The acquisition, slated to be completed within the first half of 2024, will enable the institutional shareholders of the Ugandan commercial bank to make a strategic exit and become long-term shareholders.

Roosevelt Ogbonna, the Managing Director of Access Bank, remarked that the acquisition marks a crucial milestone for the Nigerian bank as it solidifies its regional presence in the East African Community trading zone.

He further highlighted that this transaction brings Access Bank a step closer to its five-year strategic objective of penetrating key African markets.

The history of Finance Trust Bank goes back to 1984 when it was established as Uganda Women’s Finance Trust (UWFT), an NGO focused on providing low-income women with basic loan and deposit facilities. It transformed into a Minority Depository Institution (MDI) in 2004 and adopted the name Uganda Finance Trust. In 2013, it achieved the status of a commercial bank and was renamed Finance Trust Bank (FTB).

Regulated and licensed by the Bank of Uganda, Finance Trust Bank is a Tier 1 financial institution with 35 branches across the country, currently serving over 500,000 clients, of which up to 40% are women.

Annet Nakawunde Mulindwa, the Managing Director of Finance Trust Bank, expressed that this alliance will solidify the bank’s stance as a women-centric institution in the African financial sphere and enable it to deliver more innovative products and services to its customers and stakeholders, particularly women.

In other news, Access Corporation, Access Bank’s parent entity, announced on January 17, 2024, that it had rebranded Quickbucks to Oxygen X, a self-contained lending platform set to compete with apps like OPay and Carbon in Nigeria.

Earlier in the month, Access Bank Zambia received all the required regulatory approvals and successfully completed the acquisition of African Banking Corporation Zambia Limited, also known as Atlas Mara Zambia.