Afrinvest Reiterates Commitment To Goals-based Planning

Leading investment management firm, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, has restated its commitment to goals-based wealth management, which includes better client-adviser interactions, simpler language, and investment personality assessments.

In a statement made available to finance/money market reporters, Ike Chioke, Managing Director of Afrinvest, said, “The financial crisis of 2008 led to a new environment that includes changes in investor needs and market opportunities, and goals-based wealth management offers an adequate response to these changes.”

“Each investor has not only a variety of goals but different risk profiles to accompany each goal, and investment advisers must develop clear strategies to match their clients’ different goals and risk profiles. Unfortunately, this role becomes obscured in today’s world of sophisticated portfolio management and performance analysis”, he noted.

Chioke further explained, “The first step in goals-based wealth management is for the manager to identify and describe the client’s main goals. He then weighs the goals in monetary terms and prioritizes them, structures a sub-portfolio for each goal, determining which assets or strategies are most likely to help the client achieve each goal, and optimizes the sub-portfolios throughout the client’s entire portfolio.”

Assuring investors of the firm’s commitment to providing value for their investments, the Afrinvest boss said, “We are going to make sure that we get the right outcome for clients but do it in a way that people can understand, so we do not fall into the mistake of leading with complexity when our clients are looking for simplicity.”

“We are talking of huge investments in training and technology, including rewards for teams that fully embrace the concept of financial planning, allowing for a higher degree of flexibility and responsiveness to client needs. We will also be reviewing client goals on a quarterly basis, and showing how the portfolio is preparing individuals to reach specific personal financial goals”, Chioke emphasized.

Traditional asset/liability assessment analysis and mean variance-solutions typically used in wealth management were not responding adequately to investor needs. In particular, they were not addressing the financial goals that investors expressed in non-financial terms, hence, the shift towards goals-based planning.

Afrinvest West Africa Limited is a management majority-owned securities firm involved in investment banking, securities trading, asset management and investment research with a focus on West Africa.

The Afrinvest Equity Fund ("AEF") is a flagship fund, which invests primarily in stocks of companies listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The fund focuses on long-term growth while taking into account the preservation of investor's capital. This product is targeted at investors who desire optimum exposure to the equity market through the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The Nigeria International Debt Fund or ("NIDF") is an open ended fund that invests in both Domestic and International debt obligations of the Federal Government of Nigeria as well as the 36 state government. The NIDF, which offers investors safety, steady returns, diversification and value is the only bond fund with a proven record that allows investors to participate in Nigeria's thriving bond market.