Nigeria-based Access Bank rolls out two new credit cards for local consumers: the Access Bank American Express Gold card and the Metal Platinum card

One of Nigeria’s most innovative banks, Access Bank has unveiled two new consumer credit card products: the Access Bank American Express Gold Card and the Metal Platinum Card.

The first American Express Cards in Nigeria offer enhanced benefits and rewards to retail and private bank customers, including various travel and lifestyle benefits (e.g. airport lounge access, car rental benefits, hotel upgrades, merchant partner offers and discounts)?and access to the Membership Rewards loyalty program.

Besides,?Amex Cards in the country feature dual-currency functionality (USD and naira) and international acceptance.

The launch marks a milestone not only for Nigeria’s growing payments industry but also for the whole of West Africa since?Access Bank becomes the first issuer of American Express credit cards in the region.

Access Bank has been partnering with American Express since 2019. Their cooperation started with an agreement to acquire merchants and enable businesses across the country to accept payments from international American Express Cards.

Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director, Access Holdings, said the cards will be available by request and invitation. Customers who have signified interest earlier will begin to enjoy the usage of the new credit offering starting from Tuesday, June 13, 2023.

Roosevelt Ogbonna, Managing Director and CEO of Access Bank added: “With American Express, we can provide valuable card benefits, strong loyalty rewards, and a real reason to use electronic payments instead of cash. By diversifying our services to facilitate payments, we can connect more consumers to the SMEs and retail businesses across the country who we know are the engine of economic growth.”

Truly, the lack of credit options is one of the long-standing issues for Nigerian SMEs, although some fintech startups like?Moni develop and introduce alternative financing options e.g.?community-powered loans for African SMEs.

We have previously reported that?Amex is going to use AI to improve customer experience.