Access Holdings has appointed Innocent Ike as its substantive Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, effective August 29, 2025, after securing regulatory approval. The move marks the end of Bolaji Agbede’s 18-month stint as Acting Group CEO, during which she guided the financial services group through one of the most turbulent periods in its history.
The appointment marks a key leadership reset for the parent company of Nigeria’s biggest bank by assets. Agbede, a long-serving executive, stepped in after Herbert Wigwe’s sudden death in February 2024, guiding the company through regulatory hurdles and investor uncertainty. However, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s rules on minimum CEO experience for a financial holding company barred her from taking the role permanently.
“Her outstanding contributions over the past 18 months have been invaluable, and we appreciate her dedication in navigating the Company through challenges and opportunities,” Chairman Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. “While regulatory requirements necessitate this change, we are grateful for the strong foundation that has been laid.”
During her interim leadership, Agbede oversaw key milestones, including the successful execution of a ₦351 billion ($229 million) rights issue, stabilization of the group’s workforce, and the seamless hosting of two Annual General Meetings. She would return to her substantive role as Executive Director, Business Support.
Ike brings over three decades of banking experience, including ten years at Access Bank, where he rose to General Manager with oversight of corporate, commercial, and public sector portfolios. Most notably, he served as CEO of Polaris Bank between 2020 and 2022, where he launched VULTe, its digital banking platform, earning multiple industry awards. A chartered accountant and fellow of both ICAN and CIBN, Ike was also the best graduating student of accounting at the University of Lagos in 1988.
“I look forward to building on the strong legacy established by Herbert Wigwe and Bolaji Agbede,” Ike said in a statement, pledging to deliver “exceptional value to shareholders and stakeholders.”
Access Holdings, with operations spanning more than a dozen African countries and a presence in Europe and Asia, said the appointment reinforces its ambition of becoming the “world’s most respected African financial services group.”
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