Nigerian banking group, Access Bank has joined United Bank for Africa plc to spread its banking tentacles to Cameroon.

Access Bank, ANN gathered, just created a subsidiary in Cameroon with an initial capital of about over $20million – approximately XAF14.5 billion.

The new Access Bank subsidiary will have its headquarter in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital. 

According to a recent statement from the company, the administrative board of the Cameroonian subsidiary has seven members including a Cameroon national. The members of the board are Patience Melone, Iyabode Soji-Okusanya, Fatai Oladipo, Abraham Aziegbe, Ibukunoluwa Odegbaike, and Elliz Nzo Azu.

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Created for a duration of 99 years, the bank has chosen Price Water House Coopers as its external auditor and will operate in the management of current accounts, savings collection, checks payment and credit granting.

As required by the rules in force, the launch of Access Bank Cameroon’s activities is still subject to the issuance of various legal notices and authorizations to the bank’s shareholders by the Ministry of Finance and the banking commission COBAC.

If it succeeds in launching its subsidiary in Cameroon, Access Bank Plc will become the 16th commercial bank to operate in the country and will meet one of its compatriots, United Bank of Africa (UBA), on that market. Let’s note that it is entering the Cameroonian market some years after the departure of another Nigerian group, Oceanic Bank International namely.

Some years ago, Oceanic Bank International took over 54.5% of Union Bank of Cameroon’s (UBC) assets saving it from bankruptcy. However, in 2011, Ecobank had to buy Oceanic Bank International’s assets in UBC, which is a well-rooted bank in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

On January 15, 2019, Access Bank Plc’s executive director Victor Etokwu announced that apart from the Cameroonian subsidiary, the banking group would create subsidiaries in two other African countries in 2018. The banking group will then have 18 subsidiaries in Africa.