WEALTH AND SOCIETY WEST AFRICA 2019

Though huge parts of Africa remain locked in extreme poverty, it’s impossible to miss the emergence of high net-worth individuals (HNWI). In Nigeria, Africa’s largest state both by population and size of the economy, the number of HNWI has more than quadrupled in the last 10 years. Ivory Coast, Algeria and Ghana are other West African countries that have experienced a high increase of the rich population. However, during 2018, a considerable proportion of HNWI have been also migrating to other regions like the UK, US, France, Switzerland, the UAE and South Africa. Safety concerns have deterred investment and discouraged wealthy people from staying in countries like Nigeria.

As far as wealth management, traditional asset management is expanding aggressively across Africa, in particular the mutual fund industry. The global rise in the volume of investable assets, which has taken place over the last two decades, is set to continue to increase in the future and investable assets are set to be significantly higher in 2020. A number of banks have set up their own asset management subsidiaries in a bid to push their own proprietary products. Some of these banks are also seeking cooperation with foreign asset managers to promote their African investment strategies in other parts of the world in exchange for promotion of other asset managers’ investment strategies in Africa.

On the other hand, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) can fill existing funding gaps until the legal frameworks of African countries develop sufficiently to make them appealing to other investors. And the fact that most of the funds use a proportion of their assets to make impact investments domestically or regionally suggests that they will become big players in local markets.

Wealth & Society West Africa 2019 will bring together a wide range of high-profile senior executives, retail banks, asset management companies, influential investors, sovereign wealth fund directors, philanthropists and other industry professionals to discuss the current situation of the wealth management industry, analyze the obstacles it’s facing and foreseeing new opportunities. We will also have case studies and learn how to use your wealth to be relevant to society. Wealth & Society West Africa is the perfect leading platform for insight sharing, networking with wealth experts, and strategic planning for all wealth landscape players.