Major international bank betting big on South Africa
Access Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to South Africa after the Nigerian-based bank was unable to finalise a deal to acquire Bidvest Bank.
Access Bank has over 60 million customers globally and operates across three countries. It is the largest lender in Africa.
In December 2024, the Nigerian Bank announced a deal to acquire 100% of Bidvest Bank for R2.8 billion.
The deal would grow Access Bank’s operations in South Africa. The Nigerian Bank would implement Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment ownership, including an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.
Bidvest Bank’s book totalled R6 billion, including assets, loans and advances, in December 2024, and was funded by deposits of R8 billion.
The deal would also allow Bidvest to focus on its core operations, with the proceeds used to settle its existing debt.
However, the deal is no longer taking place. By the long-stop date of 26 January 2026, the conditions required to complete the transaction expired, with certain conditions, including regulatory approval, not met.
Access Bank said that the outcome reflects the challenges and extended timelines associated with multi-jurisdictional regulatory and transactional processes.
It was, however, not a reflection of the bank’s strategic intent or assessment of the South African market.
“We remain constructively engaged with stakeholders on this transaction towards finding a potential path to closure,” said Access Bank MD Roosevelt Ogbonna.
“This initial outcome does not diminish our confidence in South Africa’s financial ecosystem.”
“We remain focused on building Africa’s most respected financial institution, strengthening our trade finance capabilities and delivering long-term value to customers, partners and communities across all our markets.”
Despite the sale not going through, Access Bank already has operations in the country. The Nigerian lender acquired Grobank Limited in 2021.
Grobank, which was previously known as Bank of Athens, was mainly focused on agriculture before Access Bank transformed it into a retail banking operation.
Access Bank offers personal, business, and corporate banking in South Africa, with offices in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Some good news for Bidvest
While Bidvest is now on the hunt for a new buyer for Bidvest Bank, several other sales have come from its financial services division.
Bidvest announced that it also reached an agreement to sell 100% of FinGlobal to the Momentum Group for R200 million.
FinGlobal was a global mobility and emigration services provider, with all of the FinGlobal employees retained as per the transaction.
“This acquisition supports our stated strategic intent to invest in financial advice to drive growth,” said Johann le Roux, CEO of Momentum Retail, when the deal was announced.
Bidvest has also recently announced that it has agreed to sell 100% of Bidvest Life to a private-equity-led financial services consortium.
Key conditions of the Bidvest Life deal are still precedent, including regulatory approvals, which are required to finalise this transaction.
When it comes to Bidvest Bank and Bidvest Life, the parent company said that they will continue to be disclosed as a Disposal Group held for sale in its financial results, which was the case for the 2025 financial year.
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