Access Holdings weighs selling at least one foreign subsidiary to meet the CBN's 10% cap
Key findings
- Chairman Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede said the group could exit at least one foreign subsidiary that is not meeting its cost of capital, according to Bloomberg as reported by Nairametrics and Leadership.
- Access Bank's investment in foreign subsidiaries was 19.4% of shareholders' funds in May, 9.4 percentage points above the CBN's 10% cap.
- The CBN gave the bank 12 months to comply; chief executive Innocent Ike said the group aims to do so before the March deadline.
- The group is recalling surplus capital, selling minority stakes and restructuring; it sold 7.44% of its Ghanaian unit in July.
Access Holdings Plc may leave at least one of its foreign markets as it works to meet a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rule that caps a bank's equity investment in foreign subsidiaries at 10% of its shareholders' funds. The group's chairman, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the Africa Financial Industry Summit in Luanda that a subsidiary which cannot meet its cost of capital should be sold, and that he could "think of one", Nairametrics and Leadership reported.
The cap bites hard at Access. Its banking subsidiary, Access Bank, had 19.4% of its shareholders' funds invested in foreign subsidiaries in May, 9.4 percentage points over the limit, and the CBN gave it 12 months to close the gap. Chief executive Innocent Ike said on a conference call that the group is pursuing three routes: bringing surplus capital home from foreign units, selling minority stakes and restructuring some businesses. It has finished one round of capital repatriation from six subsidiaries and is working with regulators in five countries on more.
Ike said the group intends to comply before the March deadline; Aig-Imoukhuede said the work could be finished earlier than planned. In July, Access Bank sold 7.44% of its Ghanaian subsidiary through the Ghana Stock Exchange, a sale Nairametrics linked to the same rule.
Why it matters
Access runs banks in several African markets. The CBN's cap forces it, and other groups with large foreign units, to choose between bringing capital home, bringing in outside shareholders abroad, or leaving weaker markets. Capital returned to Nigeria strengthens the parent bank's balance sheet, while exits would narrow the group's pan-African strategy. Access has done this before: in 2014 it sold its loss-making Côte d'Ivoire subsidiary after an earlier CBN restriction.
What to watch
- Which subsidiary, if any, Access puts up for sale, and on what terms.
- Whether the foreign investment ratio is within the cap in the group's full-year accounts.
- Similar moves by other Nigerian banks with large foreign operations.
Methodology
This piece is based on Nairametrics' and Leadership's reports of 9 November 2026, which cite Bloomberg's interview with Access Holdings' chairman and the group's conference call. The gap to the cap is the reported ratio minus the CBN limit.