Access Bank launched its new brand on 1st April, 2019 with 400 branches proudly showcasing the new logo. The brand was first unveiled in front of an elegantly-clad invited audience at the Eko Hotel & Suites on the evening of 31st March, 2019. The crowd gathered to celebrate the unveiling of the Bank’s new identity following the successful merger between Access Bank and Diamond Bank.
That merger created a Nigerian banking powerhouse and a Pan-African financial services champion.
Access Bank today is the largest retail Bank in Africa by customer base. One Bank with 27,000 staff across 592 branches, spanning three continents, 12 countries and with 29 million customers.
The visual identity: Fusion (an occasion when two or more things join or are combined; the technique of joining atoms in a reaction that produces energy)
The new visual identity 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. Access Banks’s was trusted, global and fast. Bringing them together to capture the strength created through the merger meant drawing from the essence of each logo but refreshing them to create a sense of energy and forward momentum. 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.
Access. more than banking
To accompany the new logo, there is a new brand promise: access. more than banking. This is more than a tag line. It is a philosophy. 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. He 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. They want their 29 million customers to be able to access. more than banking. They want them to access their dreams and, in doing so, putting Africa in its rightful place on the world stage.