Chinwendu Obienyi
In its aspiration to become a more agile and demutualised exchange and pursuant to the SEC’s ‘No Objection’ rule, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has said it intends to proceed to next steps which include seeking formal approval from its members on demutualisation scheme.
This was even as the Exchange noted that it expects that crude oil price and production, global economy, political stability and business environment to shape the Nigerian economy as well as the capital market in 2020.
Speaking to the media during the NSE 2019 market recap/2020 outlook which held in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Oscar Onyema, revealed that having met the necessary requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Exchange obtained a letter of ‘No Objection’ to enable the NSE proceed to the final stages of the demutualisation process.
Onyema added that the NSE remains committed to continually provide clarity on the demutualisation process to its various stakeholders through regular engagements.
He said, “With demutualisation, the corporate structure of the NSE will actually change and the media as well as brokers are key stakeholders. Now that we have seen the no objection letter from the SEC, we are now putting in final touches in place to have the court-ordered meeting and EGM. In the lead up to that, there will be significant engagement with the media, brokers and other members of the Exchange.
“We are working as quickly as we can to complete it and we hope that very soon, we will put out the notices for the EGM. Let us not forget that there are statuory requirements and so we are following the process.”
According to him, the NSE will continue to develop new strategic partnerships with the goal of delivering better products and services to its customers and maintain momentum in executing the NSE’s 2018-2021 corporate strategy in its efforts to elevate the prominence of Africa’s global financial markets.
On the outlook for the capital market, the NSE CEO noted that crude oil prices, global macroeconomic activities as well as business environment is expected to modify the Nigerian economy.
“Since Nigeria still remains reliant on oil production for foreign exchange reserves, the dynamics of crude oil price and production will continue to influence the capital markets and economy. Also, enhanced focus on infrastructure renaissance and promotion of laws that will support the business environment will be key to Nigeria’s success in 2020.
“The year 2020 has started on a good note, with the NSE All Share Index (ASI) recording a 9.41 per cent improvement year-to-date as at January 10. We intend to work closely with our stakeholders to sustain this growth trajectory,” Onyema said.
