FMDQ OTC assures stakeholders of better services

FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange (FMDQ) has assured stakeholders in the over-the-counter (OTC) fixed income securities market of better deal.  The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FMDQ OTC, Mr. Bola Onadele. Koko gave the assurance while speaking at the 2015 annual workshop of the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) in Lagos.

Speaking through the Head, Business Development, FMDQ OTC, Ms. Tumi Sekoni, the CEO said having succeeded in turning around the market within two years, the next move is to bring more innovations that will benefit all stakeholders and make the platform more attractive to issuers and investors.
According to him, FMDQ OTC has not only deepened the fixed income debt securities market but has also made it very liquid for investors to enter and exit.

Onadele disclosed that while the platform has been quoting federal government and corporate bonds of public companies among others, there are plans to quote bonds of private companies as  part of its commitment to support efforts aimed at galvanising the development of the Nigerian economy.
Private companies’ bonds that,  by law, can only be issued through private placements. Some of the Nigerian, significantly important, private companies in oil & gas, power, telecommunications, manufacturing and infrastructure require long-term funding.

Currently, their long-term funds are structured as loans and funded by banks thereby putting their balance sheets under significant risk management, liquidity and capital adequacy pressures.“FMDQ will establish the requisite market governance over these private companies’ bonds as part of its investor protection standards in making the Nigerian debt capital market globally competitive to attract pension funds and foreign capital,” he said.
He added that FMDQ is establishing the building blocks to redefine access to long-term debt capital for private companies and ventures in Nigeria. “

FMDQ is establishing the building blocks to redefine access to long-term debt capital for private companies and ventures in Nigeria. FMDQ is promoting the market structure that will facilitate the injection of credibility and transparency to the quotation of private companies’ bonds that, by law, can only be issued through private placements. The platform is promoting the market structure that will facilitate the injection of credibility and transparency to the quotation of private companies’ bonds that, by law, can only be issued through private placements,” Onadele said.