The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer-designate of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Temi Popoola, has revealed a vision to bridge the gap between the millions of bank accounts in Nigeria and the current number of investors in the market.
Popoola, who took over the leadership of the exchange on the last trading day in 2023, said this whilst addressing leaders of exchanges from across the globe at the working group committee meeting of the World Federation of Exchanges hosted by Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt Germany, on Thursday.
He said, “We recognise the stark contrast between the investors currently engaged in the capital market and the vast potential represented by the 65 million banking accounts in Nigeria. Our vision is to bridge this divide, onboarding millions into the capital market and fostering financial inclusion on an unprecedented scale.”
Speaking on attracting retail investors to the market, Popoola said, “Listings and foreign capital inflows have become a challenge in similar emerging markets and contributions from other CEOs of exchanges including Kenya and Egypt echoed the challenges faced by the Nigerian market.
“The high interest rate environment in the United States contributes to the localisation of capital in the country, hence starving other riskier markets of the needed capital.
“After navigating a challenging eight years with the previous administration, we now find ourselves under a more pro-market leadership. This shift positions NGX for renewed growth and resilience in the evolving economic landscape.”
According to the NGX boss, the exchange is intentional about collaborating with the government in enhancing listing incentives.
“A prime example is the prioritsation of listed companies in government procurement processes. Also, working with the regulator, we intend to review our listing rules, aligning them with markets such as London to attract a more diverse array of businesses to the Exchange,” he added.
Popoola stated that the group was exploring deepening data revenue generation and engaging market infrastructure stakeholders from the CCPs to the CSDs in meaningful API conversations to further strengthen agility.
There have been concerns over the exit of foreign investors from Nigeria.
While the local investors have provided a strong base for the market, analysts believed that the re-entry of foreign investors would boost the market considerably.
It is believed that the recent policy reforms of the government, including harmonisation of the segments of the foreign exchange market and the removal of fuel subsidy, would boost foreign investors’ confidence in the market.
The latest figure from the NGX showed that as of November, the total foreign transactions stood at N363bn while domestic transactions stood at N2.871tn.
