Agency banking: Access Bank announces intention to increase customer base

In its bid to enhance financial inclusion, Access Bank plc has announced its intentions to increase its customer base and deepen wallet share of the banking population riding on its agency banking platform.

For those who don’t know, Access Bank agency banking known as ‘Access Closa’ recently hit a milestone of having 100,000 agents currently spread across the nation as the bank further plans to increase its footprint by having a minimum of 50 agents in each of the 774 LGAs across the country.

Speaking on the development, the Group Head, Agency Banking, Chizoba Iheme, said; “Due to the limited number of financial institutions, especially in rural areas, Access Closa is Access Bank’s strongest retail channel used in providing banking services to a large population of unserved and underserved Nigerians.”

“Going by the high youth and adult population, the resources of Nigeria’s financial institutions are being overstretched in providing physical and human resources and were unable to cope with gaps that existed in meeting banking needs of Nigerians hence the need for Agency Banking as envisaged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2013.”

“Therefore, Agency Banking helps financial institutions decongest crowded branches by providing a matching and more often convenient channel for their customers.”