Premier asset management firm, Tesah Capital has held the maiden edition of its thought leadership webinar – the Tesah Capital Investment Dialogue series.
Held under the theme ‘Investing after the Financial Sector Clean-Up’, the first edition of the quarterly interactive session drew from a wide range of resources, particularly from the sector regulator – the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and academia – to gauge the prevailing level of investor confidence as well as provide the regulator with a wide-reaching platform to highlight ongoing measures geared towards the further strengthening of the sector.
Offering welcoming remarks, Managing Director at Tesah Capital, Eugenia Basheer stated that series seeks to deepen interactions between her outfit, clients – current and prospective, as well as the various regulatory bodies.
On the choice of the theme for the maiden edition, she indicated that it was a subject of utmost importance, as it had ranked number one in stakeholder engagements; as there remained anxiety from the investing public over the safety of their funds.
Explaining the need for more honest dialogue on the subject, she said, “As we look to the years ahead, we envisage a partnership with our clients that will result in creating and growing generational wealth.
We cannot however ignore the past as our future is shaped by the past; we cannot therefore overlook the effects of the financial sector cleanup exercise that took place between 2018 and 2020. Though the exercise may have achieved its aim, like any battle, there are casualties and loses and consequently, there is fear, as many people are apprehensive about investing, it is a natural human response to what happened.
Have we however paused to consider the consequences of not investing? Not investing means losing great potential income. It means missing the opportunity to attain many goals. Although you might have fallen off that horse, get back on and start investing again but this time, check the horse, its stable, bridle and its saddle.”
She added that her outfit is placing a premium on disclosure to clients and the regulator, as a means of allaying lingering anxiety and empowering investors to make better informed decisions.
Deputy Director General at the SEC, Paul Ababio reiterated the Commission’s resolve to ensuring sanity in the fund management industry, a state he said is critical for the development of the wider national economy.
“We as a Commission have put a number of measures in place, with more to come, aimed at boosting investor confidence and growing our market. Our aim is to make the Ghanaian financial space one of the best on the continent, if not the world. And we know that our economic prosperity as a nation is tied to this,” he said.
On his part, Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) Dr. Elikplimi Agbloyor, who doubles as the Head of Research Committee at Tesah Capital paid particular attention to the necessity of fund managers rebuilding the trust of the investing public.
He especially tasked them with holding themselves and their agents to higher levels of accountability and ethical governance, whilst holding their fiduciary responsibility to clients in the highest regard. “Trust is the most important currency in the financial sector. Fund managers must not be looking to play around the fringes of the law; they must not just seek to do what is legal, they must do what is right,” he said.
He also called for the extension of financial literacy to the local languages, a measure Mr. Ababio said the Commission is already engaged in.
Also on the call was renowned economist, Kwame Panim, who called for increased, collaboration between the various regulatory agencies in the financial service space.
Other speakers at the event were two academics who joined in from the University of Cape Town School Of Business. They are Associate Professor in Development and Insurance Finance at the Development Finance Centre (DEFIC), Abdul Latif Alhassan (Ph.D.) and Senior Lecturer in Property Studies in the Department of Construction Economics and Management, Dr. Frank Kwakutse Ametefe.
