Access Bank said it has commissioned and empowered 74,000 Access Closa agents to provide financial services to customers across the country.

This is even as agency banking takes more root in the Nigerian financial industry.

The agents, spread across the 774 local government areas of the country, are to provide banking services and innovative solutions to customers in the markets and communities they domicile.

The financial institution said Access Closa agents, spread across the 774 local government areas in the country, will provide access to finance and banking services to millions of previously unbanked and underbanked Nigerians.

In the same vein, it stressed that they will provide alternate streams of income for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), promote financial literacy and advance the bank’s ambition to bank one in every two Nigerians by 2025.

Senior banking advisor, Retail, Access Bank Plc, Robert Giles, in a statement, said the exponential growth of Access Bank’s agent network was part of the bank’s promise to ensure easier and safer access to financial services for every Nigerian.

“As a bank driven by innovation, we must deliver better outcomes for customers in terms of speed, security and service to enhance customer experience in all the locations that we operate.

“With the recent mapping of over 70,000 Access Closa agents, customers and non-customers of the bank who are travelling for business, events or to visit loved ones in any location in Nigeria will continue to enjoy uninterrupted banking services as our Closa agents are available in several rural and semi-urban locations across the country,” he assured.

Also, the head, agency banking, Access Bank Plc, Tolulope Oyeyipo, said: “the Access Closa agent network is a bespoke channel through which Access Bank expresses her passion and commitment to broadening the opportunities and access to financial services for every Nigerian and African, irrespective of where they might be.”