Bank renews commitment for wealth creation, sustainability

Ecobank Nigeria has pledged commitment to the advancement of ideas that would lead to wealth creation and its sustainability through several generations.

Besides, the bank said it is of mutual interest and benefits to support businesses to achieve sustainable wealth that is passed down from one generation to another, through its advisory arm, as such would reflect on its operations.

The Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan, who made the observations during a breakfast session organized for its premier banking customers, said the bank is committed to having regular sessions to educate customers on ways to ensure their businesses outlive them and successfully transit to another generation afterward.

Organized in conjunction with the bank’s Securities, Wealth and Asset Management (SWAM) unit in Lagos, he pointed out that financial institution, which has footprints in 36 countries in Africa, is well-positioned to advise and give access to customers to other African markets.

“We believe that successful individuals, companies and businesses are just more about ensuring that they endure from generation to generation. That is mostly of significant interest to us.

“So, what we are trying to do is to expand the network or thought process and the access to information, access to markets and opportunities that can further improve the wealth creation, generation and sustenance and also, how to expand the coast further.

“We know how to provide relevant advice to help work with our customers to protect the value of their wealth to growing it and sustaining it from one generation to another.”

“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,” he said.

But the Chief Investment Officer, EDC Fund Management Limited, Akinola Sowemimo said that one of the key things that is special about Ecobank and the group is that our clients have access to others across countries in Africa where we operate.

“What we are trying to do is to enable our customers to be able to secure their future. We found that there hasn’t been enough education of customers on how to plan for the future and how to plan their wealth for their children, secure it and make it tax-efficiently through a number of our products.

“We know our clients know how to make money, but we are there to support them to expand the base of the wealth that they have. We also 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,” he said.