Access Bank Botswana has appointed KPMG Botswana as its external auditor for the 2026 financial year, replacing PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shortly after an extended audit process that delayed publication of the bank’s 2025 financial statements by more than three months.
The audit, which eventually resulted in an unmodified opinion, also uncovered regulatory non-compliance and accounting issues linked to a US$20 million investment in New Horizon Funding SPV Ltd, prompting the bank’s board to commission an independent investigation and PwC to expand its audit procedures.
However, Access Bank says the appointment of KPMG should not be interpreted as a response to the findings.
Acting Country Managing Director Ratang Icho-Molebatsi said the auditor transition was part of the bank’s routine governance process aimed at maintaining independence, objectivity and audit quality.
“The appointment of KPMG should therefore be viewed within the context of these governance considerations rather than as a reaction to specific audit findings,” she said.
The auditor change comes after Access Bank missed its original reporting deadline of 15 April, postponing publication of its audited financial statements three times before releasing them in July.
During the delays, the bank informed shareholders that a single outstanding audit matter remained under review.
However, PwC’s final audit report provided greater detail, revealing that the outstanding matter involved potential regulatory breaches and accounting errors relating to the New Horizon Funding investment made in December 2025.
Following the board’s independent investigation, PwC expanded its audit procedures and identified what it described as “further instances of regulatory non-compliance”.
The auditor also found that certain borrowing covenant breaches had occurred before year-end, requiring some borrowings to be reclassified from non-current to current liabilities under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Despite these findings, PwC issued an unmodified audit opinion.
The opinion means the auditor concluded that the financial statements were fairly presented in all material respects.
PwC, however, cautioned that a clean audit opinion should not be interpreted as meaning that no significant events or control issues occurred.
“An unmodified audit opinion does not mean that nothing significant happened. It means the auditor concluded that the financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects,” PwC said.
Icho-Molebatsi said the additional regulatory issues identified during the audit were confined to the processes and controls surrounding the New Horizon transaction and did not indicate wider operational weaknesses across the bank.
She said the matters did not affect the fair presentation of the financial statements, as reflected in PwC’s audit opinion.
Asked whether Access Bank would publish the findings of the board’s independent investigation, Icho-Molebatsi said the bank remained committed to transparency but also had obligations to regulators, employees, customers and other stakeholders.
She said all material matters had already been disclosed through the audited financial statements, PwC’s report and market announcements.
PwC declined to comment on client-specific matters beyond publicly available disclosures, citing professional confidentiality obligations.
The audit transition also comes as Access Bank reported weaker financial performance for 2025.
The bank’s profit before tax declined 23 percent to P103.6 million, while net interest income fell 11 percent to P368.8 million.
Non-interest income increased 26 percent, supported by a 117 percent rise in trading income and higher digital banking transaction volumes.
Customer deposits increased 3 percent to P7.48 billion, while total assets grew 7 percent to P10.8 billion.
