Access Bank’s announcement of Mrs. Chizoma Okoli’s retirement as Deputy Managing Director, effective April 30, 2026, should be read as more than a routine boardroom disclosure. Coming shortly after the retirement of Dr. Gregory Jobome as Executive Director, Risk Management, after 16 years of service, the development points to a wider leadership recalibration within one of Nigeria’s most systemically important banking groups.
For investors, the directional signal is not necessarily negative. Leadership transitions are normal in large financial institutions, particularly after tenure completion, strategic restructuring, and post-recapitalisation repositioning. The more relevant insight is whether the succession architecture preserves institutional memory, risk discipline, retail execution strength, and strategic continuity. Okoli’s contribution to retail banking, SME expansion, and customer growth makes her exit material to the bank’s operating narrative, while Jobome’s departure from the risk management function places renewed attention on enterprise risk governance at a time of credit repricing, regulatory recalibration, and macroeconomic uncertainty.
The market should therefore watch Access Bank’s next layer of appointments, role consolidation, risk leadership depth, and communication discipline. In banking, people changes are never just people stories. They are early signals of strategy, control culture, and institutional readiness for the next cycle.
Access Holdings Plc has announced the retirement of Mrs Chizoma Okoli as Deputy Managing Director of its flagship subsidiary, Access Bank Plc, effective April 30, 2026, following the completion of her tenure.
Mrs Okoli joined the Bank in March 2019 as an Executive Director and was appointed Deputy Managing Director, Retail South in March 2022. She has played a pivotal role in deepening the Bank’s retail footprint, expanding our customer base, and strengthening our proposition to small and medium-sized businesses across our markets.
She is a seasoned professional with approximately three (3) decades of robust banking experience. She commenced her professional career in 1992 as an Executive Trainee at the defunct Diamond Bank Plc, where she distinguished herself and rose rapidly through the ranks to become an Executive Director in 2016. Following the Bank’s merger with the defunct Diamond Bank in 2019, she was appointed Executive Director, Business Banking Division by the Bank. Her robust experience spans commercial and consumer banking, corporate banking, branch banking, institutional banking, business banking, and business development.
She obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Benin and a Master’s in Business Administration from Warwick Business School in the United Kingdom. She is an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and a Member of the Institute of Credit Administration of Nigeria.
Mrs Okoli has attended various courses in Nigeria and abroad, including the Advanced Management Programme of Wharton Executive Education at the University of Pennsylvania and the Senior Management Programme at Lagos Business School. She has also attended courses at the Harvard Business School and the London Business School. She is an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.
She sits on the Boards of United Payment Services Limited (as a Nominee Director for Roosevelt Ogbonna), Fiducia Data Services Limited, Fiducia Digital Registry Solutions Limited, Fiducia Clearing Services Limited, Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme, and Bank Directors Association of Nigeria (BDAN).
The Board expressed its appreciation for her contributions to the institution’s growth and transformation, noting her impact on the bank’s retail strategy and overall market positioning. It also wished her success in her future endeavours.
Source: Proshare
