Issuers’ portal to enhance Exchange, listed companies’ interaction

 The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) would soon introduce the first ever Issuers’ portal in the Nigerian capital market known as “X-Issuer.” The new portal is one of a number of new regulatory initiatives of the NSE that will allow online information submission for enhanced interaction between the Exchange and listed companies.

Josephine Igbinosun, head, listings regulation of the NSE, says X-Issuer is a secure online portal through which issuers will submit financial and other information to the NSE and the market from the comfort of their offices.

She notes that the portal will not only encourage transparency and accountability, but will also expedite the discharge of issuers’ post-listings obligations relating to structured and continuous disclosures, stressing that X-Issuer will eliminate leakage of price sensitive information because of the minimal time between submission by the issuer and release to the market.

Igbinosun explains that the portal will offer unique benefits of data capture, form submission validation and other ancillary services such as submission notification mechanisms and tracking of submitted information. With this, listed companies no longer need to submit hard copies of information to the Exchange by post, hand delivery or courier.

The listings regulation boss further stresses that the X-Issuer will facilitate comparison of data by international and local investors and analysts, giving issuers greater visibility in the market. The mandatory electronic submission will put in place a better co-ordination that will ensure that information from companies is released to the market accurately and in a timely manner.

In a bid to enhance the overall user experience, the Exchange commenced a User Acceptance Test (UAT) with a number of listed companies, providing training to build capacity and requisite know-how of the new electronic submission system, as quality and knowledge transfer are key success factors.

“At the Exchange, we intend to be well-positioned to adapt our business to meet the needs of our clients for overall operational efficiency. X-Issuer once again demonstrates our commitment to building an African institution that competes effectively globally,” she adds.