Aigboje Ihidero Aig-Imoukhuede, universally known as AIG, and Herbert Wigwe are two of Africa’s most recognisable bankers, their lifelong friendship forged in the chaotic gung-ho days of the nineties’ robber-baron banking era, where as two parvenus from the minority South-South region, they easily bonded in the boardroom of Guaranty Trust Bank. The two men, AIG from the old Bendel state (now Edo) and Herbert, from Rivers state fell in love with the corporate ethos at Guaranty Trust Bank, then a young and vibrant bank already earning plaudits for its commitment to constant innovation.
AIG and Herbert were widely respected as top performers within the bank leading to their confirmations as Executive Directors within a very short time, but both men soon realised that their careers had plateaued and that with Fola Adeola certain to hand over the reins to his co-founder Tayo Aderinokun and princelings such as Julius Kosebinu Olusegun Agbaje Jr lurking in the background, the path to the top job at the Guaranty Trust Bank was a long and torturous one.
So AIG and Herbert decided to buy a bank and build it from the bottom up. The two “bros” acquired the crisis-ridden Access Bank and helped by their aggressive corporate strategy and strong connections within the banking industry and political circles, they ultimately succeeded in creating Nigeria’s largest retail bank. And it was no mean feat. AIG, the bank’s chief executive during its most successful years, pulled this off by executing a surgical, some say controversial takeover of Intercontinental Bank after its former chief executive Erastus Akingbola had eroded the bank’s balance sheet.
It was a controversial takeover. In addition to a special purpose vehicle Project Star Investments (PSI) Limited, AIG and Herbert Wigwe used several nominee firms such as Stanbic Nominees Limited to execute the transaction and it was later revealed that the United Alliance Company of Nigeria, also jointly owned by AIG and Herbert Wigwe owed Intercontinental Bank PLC close to two billion naira. Several years later, Access repeated the same feat with its acquisition of the glitzy but badly-run Diamond Bank, whose exposure to dollar-denominated loans during the first Buhari recession, was the final nail in its coffin.
The ascendancy of AIG, Herbert and Access Bank was the reward of the ultimate long game. Trained as a lawyer, AIG had always understood the importance of connections in the opaque and labyrinthine backrooms of Africa’s largest economy and he leveraged his relationships with powerful friends and family members such as Evelyn Oputu, the former chief executive of the dour but well-financed Bank of Industry and his in-laws from the powerful Subomi Balogun dynasty. In a sense, AIG’s in-law Subomi Balogun, the founder of the First City Merchant Bank, known for his obsessive love for Rolls Royces and all-white native attires, was an earlier version of the two young turks as he had successfully created the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) after being turfed out of First Bank decades ago.
After his successful time as the chief executive of Access Bank, it was only natural that AIG would hand over to his close associate and fellow Herbert Wigwe. And he did. Apart from a a few run-ins with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Wigwe has continued with Access Bank’s blueprint for African domination. He has overseen the bank’s aggressive expansion into Southern Africa and a steady push into other less glamourous financial services such as pensions and insurance. While he hasn’t cracked the mobile money code, analysts say that he has had a decent run as the bank’s chief executive.
AIG on the other hand, seems to have reinvented himself as a philanthropist with a passion for public service reform and healthcare. He currently runs several non-profit entities devoted to these causes: Friends of the Global Fund Africa; African Business Coalitions For Health; Healthcare Federation of Nig; Private Sector Health Alliance; Enterprise NGR Professional Advocacy Group; AIG Institute for Public Policy; Africa Initiative for Governance etc.
The two men are not social media stars and are less likely to be recognised at an international airport or a private jet hangar, than say, Zenith’s Jim Ovia or UBA’s Tony Elumelu, but insiders say that AIG and Herbert have kept a particular pet project very close to their chest and under the radar. Known as Project Ten Gen, it is a long-term plan hatched by Messrs Imoukhuede and Wigwe to grow and preserve their wealth beyond ten generations while ensuring that they can control and influence large swathes of the local financial services sector for several decades to come.
The Ten Gen project involves a complex network of entities, some in Africa, some in offshore jurisdictions, a Western-style family office in the highbrow Ikoyi neighbourhood in Lagos, white-shoe law firms such as Olaniwun Ajayi LP and Wigwe and Partners (run by Herbert Wigwe’s brother Uchechukwu Wigwe) and several trusted consiglieres with loyal ties to both men.
Sources told The Business Daily that in less than six years since the Ten Gen project was mooted, AIG and Herbert Wigwe have aggressively gobbled up assets across the financial landscape and even the oil and gas sector.
For now, the crown jewels of the Ten Gen project, are Coronation Merchant Bank, Coronation Capital and Coronation Capital (Mauritius), which handle nearly all of Access’s local and international fundraising projects. Coronation Insurance PLC has also benefitted from its exclusive arrangement with the Access Corporation. The Tengen Family Office generates decent revenue from its stock market investments while both men co-invest through their jointly-owned companies: Trust & Capital Limited, Holy Union and the United Alliance Company of Nigeria. Tengen and the United Alliance Company of Nigeria has spawned more than twenty subsidiaries, which are used for specific projects and investments including bonds and commercial paper offerings.
No one knows if AIG and Herbert Wigwe will pull off their audacious plan to preserve and multiply their wealth for ten generations. After all both men have less than five decades left on earth and sometimes, the best-laid plans come crashing down in a pile of hubris. Ultimately, time will tell.