Roosevelt Ogbonna quits Access Holdings board to comply with CBN rules, stays as Access Bank MD

Access Holdings Plc has announced the resignation of Mr. Roosevelt Ogbonna as a Non-Executive Director on its board, in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Corporate Governance Guidelines for Financial Holding Companies (2023).

In a statement on Tuesday, signed by the Company Secretary, Sunday Ekwochi, the Group said Ogbonna’s exit was necessary to comply with the new rules, which limit the number of directors on a financial holding company’s board to nine.

Despite stepping down from the holding company’s board, Ogbonna will continue to serve as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, the flagship subsidiary of the group.

“The Board appreciates Mr. Ogbonna for his outstanding and continued contributions to the Access Group,” the statement read.

Ogbonna, who was appointed Managing Director and CEO of Access Bank in May 2022, previously served as Deputy Managing Director from 2017 and Executive Director from 2013. He joined Access Bank in 2002 from Guaranty Trust Bank and has over two decades of banking experience.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA), an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (HCIB), and a CFA charter holder, Ogbonna also holds an MBA from IMD Business School in Switzerland, an LL.M in International Corporate & Commercial Law from King’s College London, and an Executive MBA from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. He earned a B.Sc. in Banking and Finance from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and completed the Senior Executive Fellow programme at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

In 2015, he was recognised by the Institute of International Finance as one of its Future Global Leaders. Beyond his role as CEO, Ogbonna sits on the boards of Access Bank’s subsidiaries in the UK and South Africa and represents the bank on the boards of the Africa Finance Corporation and CSCS Plc.

As of August 2025, the Board of Access Holdings Plc is chaired by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, with Bolaji Olaitan Agbede as Acting Group CEO and Lanre Bamisebi as Executive Director.