Ecobank Nigeria Limited, has reiterated it’s commitment towards supporting businesses to achieve sustainable wealth passed down from one generation to another, through its advisory arm. This was made known by the Managing Director, Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan.
Akinwuntan, said this at the weekend, during a breakfast session organised for its premier banking customers in conjunction with its Securities, Wealth and Asset Management (SWAM) in Lagos.
He said Ecobank was committed to having regular sessions to educate its premier customers on ways to ensure their businesses outlive them and successfully transit to another generation afterward.
He also added that as a bank that has footprints in 36 countries in Africa, the financial institution could also advice and give access to customers to other African markets.
He said: “We believe that successful individuals, companies and businesses are ensuring that they endure generations to generation mostly be of significant interest to most of us.
“So what we are trying to do is to expand the network or thought process and the access to information and access to markets and access to opportunities that can further improve the wealth creation, wealth generation and wealth sustenance and how to expand the coast further.
“At EDC, we know how to provide relevant advisory to help work with our customers to protect the value of your wealth to growing it and sustaining it from one generation to another.”
Speaking on what prompted the bank to organise the forum, he said: “Ecobank has experience across 36 countries in Africa and one of the key areas we identify is that in Africa, it is not that we don’t create wealth, the challenge is how to sustain and make sure that the wealth moves from generation to generation.
“And this is an issue across Africa and Nigeria being the powerhouse of Africa, it is only appropriate that Ecobank in Nigeria brings together our premier banking customers and have this type of session where we talk about the real issues.
“We know our clients know how to make money, but we are there to support them to be able to expand the base of the wealth that they have. “However, we know that our clients would like to see how that wealth is retained from one generation to the other and that is why we have brought experts to share knowledge on how other parts of the world have been able to create families whose wealth have transited from one generation to the next and therefore the wealth of the nation is actually sustained.”
On his part, the Chief Investment Officer, EDC Fund Management Limited, Mr. Akinola Sowemimo said: “What we are trying to enable our customers to be able to secure their future. We found that there hasn’t been enough education of customers of how to plan for the future and how to plan their wealth for their children, secure it and make it tax efficient through a number of our products.”
