8th May, 2012
The shareholders of Access Bank Plc at the bank’s 23rd Annual General Meeting, AGM, held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos have approved a dividend of 30 kobo per share while Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank informed the shareholders of his intention to resigned from the bank in 2013.
Responding to shareholders questions during the meeting, Aig-Imoukhuede said the rumour making rounds that he would exit the bank before the close of this current year in compliance with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN regulation on bank’s Chief Executives tenure is unfounded.
He said that though he was nominated and appointed to the board of the bank in 2002, the bank, in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN’s regulations wrote to the apex bank to seek approval that same year which the CBN approval did not come until April, 2003, and when the CBN, according to him, responded, the approval he got was in acting capacity.
He stated further that CBN confirmed his appointment as a substantive MD/CEO of the bank in 2005. With this explanation Aig-Imoukhuede’s tenure will lapse in 2015 but he said that he had notified the shareholders orally that he intends to bow out in 2013 to give room for Herbert Wigwe, the current Deputy Managing Director to take over the running of the bank.
Meanwhile, the shareholders of the bank approved the director’s recommendation that a final dividend of 30 kobo per ordinary share subject to appropriate withholding tax for the year ended December, 31, 2011. This brings the total dividend per ordinary share paid to shareholders for the 2011 financial year to 50 kobo as the bank had earlier paid out an interim dividend of 20 kobo per ordinary share at the close of half year in 2011.