New-age financial solutions powerhouse, Zedcrest Capital Limited on 20th February, 2020 announced the launch of a wholly owned subsidiary and new Investment/Asset Management firm aimed at digitally  `democratizing investment in Africa.

The new company, Zedcrest Investment Managers (“ZIMVEST”) will introduce digital private wealth and investment management, help clients grow wealth by beating inflation and currency risks through multicurrency investments, through best in class paperless processes

According to the Founder & Group CEO of the Zedcrest Group, Saheed Adedayo Amzat, CFA, “ZIMVEST’s differentiating factor will come from the renowned expertise of the Zedcrest group in the global financial markets. This is evidenced by the leadership position of its global markets business, Zedcap Partners which bagged the 2019 best brokerage service award of FMDQ OTC. The Group also has a wide distribution experience garnered from setting up another subsidiary, Zedvance, a top-three consumer lender in Nigeria.

The Chairman of Zedcrest Group and former managing partner of Ernst & Young, Adebisi Sanda said: “The launch of the Asset Management business ties in nicely with our plan to dominate every important vertical of Financial services: our four pillars of global markets, investment management, lending and payments. Despite some growth in the last decade, capital formation in Nigeria is still relatively low compared to our frontier/emerging market peers. The total AUM of the contributory pension scheme, at 10 trillion is just under 10% of GDP compared to South Africa at 63% of GDP. The non-pension AUM at about 1.2 trillion is very low and represents a clear growth opportunity, one which we are going after.”

Gbenga Adigun, the newly hired head of Asset Management who left his posh job at one of the country’s top three asset management firm, believes ZIMVEST would leverage on the Group’s remarkable capacities and capabilities to launch the firm into the top five players in 5 years.

“I am delighted at the focus and vision I met on ground at Zedcrest Group and excited at the unique opportunity we have to create tremendous impact. In the coming months, we will be unveiling new well-thought-through products to meet the investment needs of the public. We would have propositions for the salaried employees, entrepreneurs, HNIs, corporates, governments and family offices”, Adigun said.  

He also showered glowing praises on the Management of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for the support in granting the operational license in record time.

With the current thrust of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to drive inclusive growth in the economy, returns have fallen tremendously as fund managers have been locked out of the Juicy Open Market Operation market, in favour of foreign investors who bring the much needed foreign currency inflows. Most fund managers are expected to have negative real returns in 2020, a situation Zedcrest attributes to the unusual dependence on risk-free government securities investments.

A recent guideline from the CBN elongates the available CBN futures yield curve to 5 years from 12 months. The management of Zimvest believes this is to encourage foreign direct investment in critical sectors of the real economy and would significantly give Nigeria a growth lifeline.

“The Nigerian rising narrative is about to be rekindled and we believe this is the best time for us to be setting up. We have a clear opportunity to bring alternative investments products to the market, and reduce the focus on government securities. We would be creating products for underlying investments in infrastructure and the agricultural value chain,” noted Stella Duru, another Zedcrest Director.