For its continued efforts towards ensuring the protection of customer funds and data, Global Finance has named Access Bank the ‘Safest Bank’ in Nigeria for the year 2020. This is part of the platform’s 29th annual World’s Safest Banks rankings.

Global Finance’s annual rankings of the World’s Safest Banks has been the recognised and trusted standard of financial counterparty safety for more than a quarter-century. The Safest Banks by Country were selected through an evaluation of long-term foreign currency ratings – from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – and the total assets of the 1000 largest banks worldwide.

Herbert Wigwe, the Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank PLC, commented on the recognition saying, “Throughout 2020, financial institutions all over the world have been faced with peculiarities in safeguarding the finances and data of customers.

Through this Access Bank has remained steadfast in its commitment to ensuring that the finances of customers are protected and the data confidentiality of all stakeholders are maintained. This recognition serves as an encouragement for us to build on our successes and invest even more in digitally-led measures that will position us as the World’s Most Respected African bank.

Reiterating Wigwe’s comments, Joseph Giarraputo, publisher and editorial director of Global Finance, “For most of 2020, the world has been lashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, a steep drop in economic activity and, in some cases, serious social unrest.

Any of these developments could have significantly impacted banks’ credit worthiness. Surprisingly, however, the relative position of the world’s largest banks on Global Finance’s World’s Safest Banks 2020 lists has been mostly stable. One can only speculate on when, or if, the changes will come. In the meantime, the rankings will be used by companies, investors and individuals to gauge the relative safety of the banks with which they choose to do business.”

As part of its efforts to safeguard the investments and savings of customers, Access Bank PLC introduced the *901*911# – a self-service USSD that enables customers to deactivate their accounts using any alternative phone number should the registered phone be lost or stolen. This gives account holders full autonomy to safeguard their funds before official reports are directed to the Bank.