Aig-Imoukhuede to African Financial Leaders: Make Capital Count for Productivity and Prosperity

Access Holdings Chairman calls for productive finance, stronger African banks, and deeper continental integration at AFIS 2026

Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has challenged African policymakers, central bankers and financial institutions to move beyond measuring progress by the volume, ownership or cost of capital and focus instead on how effectively capital is deployed to create productivity, prosperity and lasting economic value.

Delivering the keynote address at the closing session of the African Financial Industry Summit, AFIS 2026, in Luanda, Aig-Imoukhuede said Africa’s next phase of financial development must convert macroeconomic stability, stronger institutions and indigenous banking capacity into tangible improvements in businesses, communities and people’s lives.

His address, themed “Making Capital Count: From Financial Stability to Productivity, Prosperity and African Integration,” concluded a summit attended by more than 1,500 participants and a reported record 18 central bank governors. He described their participation and collaboration as evidence that Africa was building stronger consensus around the reforms and institutional capabilities required for economic transformation.

However, he warned that capital, resilient banks and macroeconomic stability would not automatically deliver Africa’s required development outcomes. The central question, he said, was whether capital was being deployed productively to create growth, prosperity, and meaningful improvements in people’s lives.

Several African economies, he noted, have made progress in managing inflation, currency volatility, and financial-sector risk. These gains could support growth, but stability must translate into productive investment, enterprise development, and broad-based prosperity.

“Stability is essential, but stability cannot be the final destination,” he said. “A financial system must do more than protect itself. It must support production, enable investment, create opportunities, and help lift people out of poverty.”

Redefining Financial-System Success

Aig-Imoukhuede commended African central banks for strengthening supervision and building more resilient banking systems while addressing inflation, exchange-rate pressures, and other vulnerabilities. Yet a banking system could be stable, profitable, and well regulated while the wider economy remained unproductive.