A financial expert has urged the fund managers to develop dynamic products and create prospective new markets where foreign investment inflow could be channeled to the various sectors of the economy.
An economist with the Lagos Business School, Doyin Salami, who made this call in Lagos while addressing fund managers at the Fund Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) breakfast meeting said that this would enable Nigeria to remain competitive in the global economy.
According to him, there is an urgent need for fund managers to create efficient market and domestic products, especially for the lower class segment to enhance effective mobilisation of resources, adding thatNigeria’s foreign direct investment has risen to over $20 billion in the last three years
Salami stated that the efficient market would be supported with creation of a robust risk management framework of international best practice.
He also warned that failure to implement these factors, the local managers would lose out the nation’s market to international players.
“In the short term, the big risk of fund managers is inflation risk and weak currency but the medium term risk is how to ensure that products comes domestically into lower middle class zone for effective mobilisation of resources,” he said
He argued further that there should be a capital flow reversal and market that would manage those capitals.
“There must be proposition of new market and efficient management of these markets to corral investment for the market,” he added.
He expressed the need to institute collective investment scheme (CIS) that are best in class before the government buys into it. He explained that failure to do so, fund managers are going to lose out to international players and they would just sit back and take short notice of Nigeria.
The director fund managers and CIS, Securities &Exchange Commission, Louisa Eni-Umukoro, said that thecommission is committed to work with fund managers to develop the CIS through increasing the number of subscribers and distribution channel.
She said that the Commission has finalised arrangement to introduce a multiple fee class structure where a subscriber pays less fees as the individual continues to subscribe to the fund.
