Victor EzejaAfrinvest West Africa Plc, a leading wealth advisory firm, has announced plans to launch a financial technology solution platform called Optimus to offer better financial services to clients.
The company says the platform will be unveiled on Wednesday, October 26, as part of events to mark 27th anniversary of Afrinvest Plc in Lagos.
Group Managing Director of Afrinvest West Africa Plc, Ike Chioke, during a pre-launch press conference on Monday told journalists that the investment banking and financial services firm will also launch its new brand identity and the 2022 banking sector report as well as announce its new subsidiaries.
The re-launch press conference held at the the financial services firm’s headquarters in Ikoyi, Lagos
The Optimus, according to Chioke, is “a financial technology solution “that helps customers do the most by harmonising banking, wealth management and brokerage needs into one simple platform.”
Chioke further stated that “the company’s risk management policy ensures that it prioritizes asset class diversification and execute clients’ transactions in line with global best practices. He further explained that, in line with that principle, it built Optimus as “a personalised digital wealth management neobank platform that provides bespoke and innovative financial services to help customers reach the peak in in their finances.”
The Afrinvest GMD listed some of the products to be offered as OptiFlex (naira/dollar), a high-yield investment account that allows one to save periodically to reach a certain target; OptiLock (naira/dollar), which allows one to set aside a lump sum of money for a fixed period, ranging from three months to two years, for an attractive interest.
Chioke said the funds saved on Optimus were invested through Afrinvest Asset Management Limited (AAML), an independent investment manager in Nigeria.
He explained that the AAML was licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a portfolio manager, and has over 20 years of experience in that sector.
“Do everything with your money – save, invest and spend – on one simple and secure platform,” Chioke admonished.
”The Company was founded in 1995 as Securities Transaction and Trust Company -Limited (“SecTrust”), which grew to become a research, brokerage and asset management firm.
It has five principal areas which include: investment banking, securities trading, asset management, trusteeship and investment research.
The rebranding will involve unveiling a new logo for the company.
The rebranding exercise, according the GMD, will align with the company’s global appeal and determination to serve wider markets in its new phase of operation.
He added that it was discovered that the company’s current logo did not align with its new direction; hence, the need for rebranding.
“The new identity will be unveiled to support Optimus, and signal that we are now moving into the digital age, and digital investment bank that can do essentially what other banks can do. It is all about using technology to provide seamless services to customers.
“The new Afrinvest logo and Optimus logo are going to the unveiled, and we have plans to go international. We have set up offshore positions that will allow us serve different parts of Africa to allow the business get the capacity it needs,” Chioke further stated.
On the banking sector report, the GMD observed that since the publication of Afrinvest 2021 Nigerian Banking Sector report titled, ‘Resilience Amidst Endemic and Pandemic Constraints’, the bullish projections for the global economy in 2022 had been undermined by deteriorating fundamentals.
According to him, the increasingly gloomy projections have been the upshot of mounting downside risks, further inhibiting a world economy yet to fully shrug off the impact of the Coronavirus Disease.
Also, speaking at the pre-launch briefing, Managing Director, Optimus by Afrinvest, Mr. Ayodeji Ebo said the the new digital financial platform is a one-stop shop for different products, adding that all the products of the subsidiaries would come under Optimus by Afrinvest where they could also be accessed.
“Our history and all the things we have done in the past 27 years become an added advantage to the customer. We see it as a new bank, as there will be both naira and dollar cards offered to customers, among other services. Because we are regulated, whatever we are going to do, will also fall within the ambit of regulation and will be standardised,” Ebo added.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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