Onyema, Oniha highlight opportunities for investors in Fixed Income market

In line with its commitment to further enhance the capacity of capital market players across available asset classes, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) hosted a two-day webinar on fixed income this week. The webinar – which was held in partnership with the Debt Management Office (DMO) and CSL Stockbrokers – focused on the dealing member firms on Wednesday, 7 October 2020, and members of the investing public on Thursday, 8 October 2020.

Speaking at webinar, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NSE, Oscar N. Onyema, stated, “The Exchange continues to be the foremost platform creating new types of debt instruments in Nigeria with a market capitalisation of about N16.4trillion. By offering capital raising opportunities and secondary trading to all classes of issuers including Sovereign, Subnational, Corporates and Supra-national bonds, The Exchange facilitates the interaction between borrowers and lenders in Nigeria driving efficient allocation of capital. With fixed income markets representing one of the largest subset of global financial markets, NSE reiterates its commitment committed to providing a hybrid market for dealers as well as institutional and retail investors to continue to access increased liquidity in fixed income securities.”

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On her part, the Director General, DMO, Patience Oniha expressed her delight to partner with NSE on the webinar and went on to say, “While we have always had the money market & the capital market, the fixed income market has also grown to become active today with capital raising from government, corporates and multinationals. This shows that our market is capable of attracting both domestic & international players for the overall good of the economy. In meeting our objectives at the to finance the budget & deepen capital market activity, we remain committed to using the fixed income platform to support various aspects of the economy. We will also remain responsive to investors’ needs for portfolio diversification by expanding our fixed income market with more sophisticated debt instruments.”

The webinar also featured a presentation from Equity Analyst, CSL Stockbrokers, Olakayode Olayemi who took participants through the fundamentals of fixed income trading, highlighting both the primary and secondary market activities, as well as the investment opportunities and benefits available for investors in the NSE debt market. The session was quite engaging with participants engaging actively with The Exchange, DMO and CSL on practical ways to properly navigate the fixed income market.

The Exchange continues to deliver on its mandate to not only provide the Nigerian economy with a reliable, multi-asset hub, but to facilitate financial literacy programmes that help investors gain an in-depth understanding of opportunities in various asset classes. Through frequent communications across its touchpoints and engagements such as this webinar, The Exchange is working assiduously to ensure that investors understand the characteristics of various securities and how they are issued or traded to maximize their benefits.