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FMDQ OTC will boost securities market – Aig-Imoukhuede

By BusinessNews Staff on October 9, 2013

The management of FMDQ OTC Plc has said it will work towards strengthening Nigeria’s fixed income securities market by promoting transparency and ensuring there is greater liquidity in the market.

A statement, which was made available to our correspondent on Monday, said the Chairman, FMDQ OTC Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said this in Lagos at the company’s Annual General Meeting.

He said, “The focus of FMDQ OTC Plc is to plug a number of the gaps and weaknesses we have in the debt side of the financial market in terms of market infrastructure.

“We have seen improvements in the way the market has operated, but in the absence of a formal market structure, the improvements have been constrained and cannot take the market to where it deserves and where it supposed to be in the future for Nigeria to become a vibrant and globally accepted financial centre.”

Aig-Imoukhuede, who said the fixed income market had recorded significant growth over the years, stressed that the absence of a securities exchange, where the instruments could be traded, had constrained that growth.

The Financial Market Dealers Association had explained earlier that it was to fill this gap that it decided to inaugurate the FMDQ OTC Plc, which is an over-the-counter trading platform.

The FMDQ OTC Plc is a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed self-regulatory organisation meant to provide an over-the-counter market for the trading of fixed income instruments in the Nigerian financial market.

The subscribers of the company’s shares are banks, discount houses and the Nigerian Stock Exchange through its subsidiary, NSE Consult.

According to Aig-Imoukhuede, the organisation aims to also provide transparency, liquidity, order and discipline to ensure that the market serves its purpose effectively.

“The FMDQ will bring technology, significant skills and the experience of the management and board to bear,” he said, adding that it would organise the OTC market and standardise the operations, practice and business conduct of its members and their representatives with a view to protecting investors’ interest.

The Managing Director, FMDQ OTC, Mr. Bola Onadele, gave an assurance to investors that their investments would be protected on the platform.

He said, “Security is paramount. When you do a trade on this platform, you are walking away with a trade guarantee. You can go to sleep.

“FMDQ OTC will focus on minimising settlement failures on all transactions on its platform, regular examination of market participants, supervision of market conduct, identifying and investigating potential market failures and establishment of effective dispute resolution systems.”

[Punch]

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