By Dipo Olowookere
As part of activities to mark the World Savings Day, Wema Bank Plc, the pioneer of Nigeria’s digital bank called ALAT, on Tuesday encouraged students to imbibe the spirit of saving, emphasising that “our future depends of savings.”
Deputy Managing Director of the bank, Mr Ademola Adebise, who was at the Edokpolor Grammar School, Benin City, Edo State, noted that, “There is no future as secure as the future of a person who saves.”
According to him, “Saving shows how dedicated you are to planning for the future and anyone who plans usually succeeds.”
Speaking further at an interactive session with the students of the school on the theme ‘Our future starts with savings,’, Mr Adebise stressed that, “Your future starts with savings. How much do you get from family and friends? Have you thought about saving the money for books or to ensure you study at a University you really like?”
“There are many possibilities you can explore if you commit to saving. Don’t ever forget that your future starts with savings,” Mr Adebise told the students who gave a rousing applause as he ended the session.
The DMD also answered questions asked by the students on savings and ensured that they understood every explanation clearly.
The World Savings Day emphasizes the importance of savings to economic development, and provides a good occasion to look at how fintech may help solve the challenge of savings.
In its 72 years of existence, Wema Bank has encouraged the savings culture among its customers and has reinforced this position by setting up ALAT, a digital bank that offers 10 percent interest on savings. There are two variants of savings on ALAT; ALAT Stash and ALAT Savings Goal. Customers can enjoy 10% interest on both variants regardless of despite the flexibility they offer.
Commenting on ALAT’s unique proposition, Funmilayo Falola, who heads Brand & Marketing Communications at Wema Bank, stated that the lender understood the importance of saving, hence the 10% interest rate it offers on ALAT Savings Goals and ALAT Stash.
“We want to encourage as many people as we can, to save, because we know our collective future depends on savings,” Falola said.
World Savings Day is backed by The World Savings and Retail Banking Institute and The European Savings and Retail Banking Group (WSBI-ESBG).
