Access Bank founding Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Herbert Wigwe, alongside his wife, son, and three other passengers, died in a plane crash on Friday night.
Nigerian Exchange Chairman Abimbola Ogunbanjo also died in the crash.
The helicopter carrying Wigwe and the other passengers was identified as a Eurocopter EC130 by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
The aircraft was headed to Las Vegas when it crashed near a border city between Nevada and California.
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In a statement, Access Holdings chairman Abubakar Jimoh said that the board will soon announce the appointment of an acting Group CEO.
“The Access family has suffered a major loss with the passing of Dr. Wigwe who was a great friend and fine gentleman. He had a prodigious intellect, admirable personal qualities, and vast business experience which he brought to bear on the Access Family and for which we owe him a debt of gratitude,” he said.
The 57-year-old CEO was a key figure in the transformation of Access Bank to a holding company and the largest bank in Nigeria by total assets.
The bank is also one of the largest retail banks in sub-Saharan Africa, with over 60 million customers in 20 countries.
Apart from the banking sector, Herbert Wigwe was also invested in education, with his latest project being a university named after him and located in Rivers State.
