To further modernise Nigeria’s capital markets and ensure that it is well positioned to support economic transformation driven by private sector investment, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the African Development Bank Group have signed an agreement for a grant on a market surveillance system project.
The grant, valued at $460,000, is to finance technical assistance and capacity building for capital market development under the “Nigeria Securities Market Surveillance System Project”.
Speaking at the ceremony, Director-General, African Development Bank Group Lamin Barrow said the grant from the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund (CMDTF) – a multi-donor trust fund administered by the AfDB and supported by the Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Cooperation of the Netherlands, will support the acquisition, installation and deployment of a real-time automated securities market surveillance system of the Nigeria capital market.
According to Barrow, “Today’s ceremony marks yet another important milestone in our partnership and efforts to modernize Nigeria’s capital markets and ensure that it is well positioned to support economic transformation driven by private sector investment.
“The introduction of a surveillance system will enhance oversight on securities trading across all existing and future trading platforms and all tradable securities and products by the SEC. It will therefore preserve securities market integrity, boost investor confidence and enhance financial inclusion, among other expected outcomes.”
The AfDB DG said to ensure sound implementation and sustainability, the design of the technical assistance project embeds training activities to strengthen the capacity of users of the securities market surveillance system, and the preparation of relevant operational manuals and workflow processing and document management for the surveillance solution.
In his remarks, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yuguda said the SEC is very pleased and thankful to AfDB for providing the grant support to execute very important projects, particularly the project to acquire a surveillance solution.
Yuguda said a market surveillance system is required to aid the regulator in detecting and addressing market abuse as quickly and efficiently as possible and to proactively prevent major infractions. An automated market surveillance tool will enhance the Commission’s role in investor protection, as well as ensure a transparent, fair and orderly market and reduce systemic risk.
According to the SEC Boss, “With the successful acquisition of a surveillance solution for the Commission the SEC expects the following outcomes: The curtailment of market infractions; A modernized and technology-driven regulatory approach which enhances the protection of investors; Enhanced investor confidence leading to the increased participation of domestic investors (both institutional and retail) in the capital market.
