FMDQ changes name, says not out to compete with NSE

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FMDQ Securities Exchange Plc, which recently became a full blown securities exchange, has explained that it is not out to compete with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in equities trading but to create new entities for the future.

Mr Bola Onadele, FMDQ Managing Director, said on Saturday at a media parley in Lagos that the new securities exchange would work with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and private companies to create new entities for the future.

Onadele said the company’s intention was not going into the equities market to compete with the exchange or ask companies to delist.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the exchange recently

secured necessary approvals for a name change to ‘FMDQ Securities Exchange PLC, thereby aligning its name to its upgraded status in the capital market.

It also in June 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered its wholly owned central securities depository subsidiary – FMDQ Depository Limited – positioned to provide collateral caching, custodian and settlement services.

He noted that the exchange was looking at how to create new entities for the future, work with and nurture SMEs and private companies in Nigeria that had no access to long-term financing.

“We are not playing the game of attacking the NSE, that is not our role or our job or the way we do business.

“Rather we are looking at how to create new entities for the future, to work and nurture them, to work with SMEs, private companies in Nigeria who have not had access to long term financing.

“So, we are in the business of planning 20-30 years ahead and working with Nigerian entities in getting prosperity to Nigerians,” he said.

The managing director stressed the need to position the nation’s capital market to become number one in terms of standards, governance and transparency.

Onadele said FMDQ would continue to work with government and regulators develop the Nigerian capital market.

He assured that the exchange would continue to trade in all securities including fixed income, derivatives, commodities and foreign exchange.

Also speaking, Ms Tumi Sekoni, Associate Executive Director, Capital Markets, FMDQ, said the exchange would continue to educate and enlighten investors and operators on its products and services.

Sekoni said the exchange would launch the first derivatives product in the first quarter of 2020.

She said preparations were in top gear to ensure the launch of the product, noting that the exchange would continue to meet the yearnings and aspirations of its stakeholders.