BY: Justice Godfry
Nigeria’s leading financial institution, Access Bank, has launched its new brand.
The mega entity now has over hundreds of branches and over 3,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across Nigeria and abroad.
The brand showcases the new logo and new slogan – ‘more than banking’, which would be visible from April 1, 2019.
The brand unveiled at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos, on March 31, followed a successful merger between Access Bank and Diamond Bank that has created a Nigerian banking powerhouse and a Pan-African financial services champion.
Access Bank currently is the largest retail Bank in Africa by customer base, 27,000 staff across 592 branches, spanning three continents, 12 countries and with 29 million customers.
Explaining the visual identity, the Bank said: “It fuses together the best of Access Bank and Diamond Bank. It builds on the layers of meaning that were built into two iconic brands. Diamond Bank’s was youthful, vibrant and human.
“The diamond shape is fused into the three chevrons, which radiate in all directions to create layers around a core. The retention of the access typeface, colour and font is complemented by the orange logo, which draws from the colour palettes of both banks.
“The use of the diamond colour palette is further emphasised with the dominance of green in its retail application, ensuring continuity for retail customers, whilst the dominant orange in the corporate application provides the same sense of familiarity to Access Bank’s customers.
“Almost twenty years ago, Access Bank set out to change the face of banking in Nigeria. Its goal was to lift the continent of Africa through what it called sustainable banking, showing individuals and businesses across the country that ethical business was good business.
“Providing African businesses with access to intra Africa trade and global markets. Giving budding entrepreneurs the tools to build a business. Offering families the opportunity to realise their dreams. Across the country, another entrepreneur was also building a Bank, with a dream that went beyond banking.
“We wanted to respond to changing lifestyles by using innovation and technology to support societal shifts. With a focus on personalised service that understood people’s desires and ambitions and made them possible.
“These two banks, one a corporate titan, the other a digital retail powerhouse, have come together to create Africa’s largest Bank. For both, the philosophy remains unchanged.”