The African tech ecosystem continues to witness significant M&A activities in 2023, 30 acquisitions took place, including Bitmama’s acquisition of PayDay. Commercial banks are however way ahead of startups in this M&A game. Take Nigeria’s Access HoldCo, completed its third acquisition of the month. It acquired Nigeria’s second-largest independent pension fund manager, ARM Pensions. ARM will be Access’ third acquisition this month—with Zambia’s Atlas Mara and Megatech Insurance as the first two—and the third overall that showcases the bank’s strong venture into other plays like insurance and pension.