FMDQ Group lists N2.07tr securities, Eyes equities listing – FMDQ Securities Exchange listed 82 securities worth N2.07 trillion in the 2020 business year. The group also planned to start listing and trading in equities.
Speaking at the group’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Chairman, FMDQ Holdings Plc, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, said the group recorded significant achievements during the year despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic.
Obiora, who was represented by Mr. Jibril Aku, the Group Vice Chairman, noted that despite the challenges in 2020; it was a landmark year for FMDQ as it reorganised into a group structure, with FMDQ Group becoming a non-operating holding company registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with three SEC-registered capital market subsidiaries.
These regulated subsidiaries include FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited (FMDQ Exchange), FMDQ Clear Limited (FMDQ Clear) and FMDQ Depository Limited (FMDQ Depository), all further consolidating the group’s business model and transforming FMDQ into Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure (FMI) group.
According to him, the restructuring also helped to de-risk the markets across the full capital market value chain, from pre-trade, trade to post-trade while two new subsidiaries, FMDQ Private Markets Limited and iQx Consult Limited, were operationalised in 2020 to extend the opportunities in the capital market to private companies and to ensure operational efficiency and build resilience in the FMDQ entities through technology and digitisation.
He outlined that the group activated its equity market development project during the year, with relevant activities commencing in earnest towards full operationalisation of the market as well as its FMDQ Exchange-Traded Derivatives (ETD) Market Development Project, following significant financial markets developments, such as the long-awaited introduction of netting and other relevant laws in the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) in 2020.
He said the group plans to launch its FMDQ ETD Market with introduction of pioneer fixed income products later in the year.
Speaking on FMDQ Clear, Obiora said the receipt of an approval from the SEC has positioned FMDQ Clear for the actualisation of the company’s vision of becoming a globally accepted CCP by 2025.
“FMDQ Depository was not left out of the mix, as it also achieved considerable growth as evidenced in the admission of a total of 21 securities valued at N411.00 billion in 2020, driven by the activation of its market penetration strategy for its securities-related services, despite the downturn in the operating environment,” Obiora said.
Chief Executive Officer, FMDQ, Mr. Bola Onadele.Koko while speaking to the group’s outlook for 2021 and beyond, said the group would continue to work assiduously to deliver innovative and critical market development initiatives, with the support of and in collaboration with its stakeholders.
He outlined some of the initiatives market participants can look forward to in the near-term to include the launch of FMDQ Exchange’s fixed income futures products, having received the SEC’s approval for the FMDQ Exchange Derivatives Market Rules in February 2021, and the activation of the repo market with collateral management service; FMDQ Clear’s activation of CCP services for financial market transactions-cash and derivatives having received the SEC’s approval for its clearing member rules in April 2021; FMDQ Depository’s extension of its services to new asset classes and customer segments, and further digitisation of its participants interfaces and services.
According to him, the group will also soon activate its FMDQ Private Markets’ Startup Accelerator and Liquidity Ecosystem (SCALE) product, supported by the Oxford Foundry, the entrepreneurial centre of the University of Oxford, UK, which will extend much-needed opportunities to market segments that are currently poorly served by capital providers and drive an inclusive growth and development of the Nigerian economy.
“Despite the lingering effects of the pandemic on the economy and the minimal recovery recorded thus far in 2021, FMDQ Group assures its stakeholders of a renewed commitment to channel adequate resources towards achieving the set objectives for the markets under its purview, while continuing to work assiduously towards the swift activation of robust and thriving derivatives and equity markets, as well as consolidating the group’s debt markets leadership position,” Onadele.Koko said.