The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has commenced move to sell its market data to various stakeholders excluding the media.
This move is in recognition that in the past 20 years its market data have been a huge source of revenue to many users who are major operators and analysts in the stock market which is against the intellectual property rights.
Already, the Exchange has directed operators (broker/dealer firms) to suspend the mailing of its stock market data to their clients and publishing of any stock market data on their websites, noting that it is normal practice for global stock exchanges to charge for this type of market data use to cover some of the huge cost incurred in generating, storing and disseminating the data, which incidentally are also key element of their intellectual property rights.
According to the NSE, market data sales account for a sizeable portion of the income of many global exchanges.
“We have, however, offered a discounted fee for our broker/dealer firms and the domestic professional end of the market, to facilitate improved access and price the service competitively in comparison to other stock exchanges. We have also taken steps to ensure that the retail end of the market can continue to access some of the key market data information at no cost via our web and electronic mail services using the above links.”
Speaking to BusinessDay on phone, Dante Martins, head, corporate communications, said, “We noticed that for the past 20 years, some people have been selling NSE data and collecting money. They have been stealing these data which are other people’s intelligence. Take for instance, if such people on daily basis sell our data to 1,000 people across the globe at 10 cents each, they would have been making $5,000 per day from other people’s intelligence. This is against global practice. In other markets, people pay for market data. What we are doing now is to standardise our market operation in line with global best practice.”
Already, operators have started informing their clients on this development.
An email by one of the operators reads: “We wish to inform you that we have temporarily suspended the mailing of our stock market data (particularly the equities segment) to our clients and publishing of any stock market data on our website based on a recent directive from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
“The directive intends to restrict the amount of information that market operators are allowed to send to their clientele and the investing public at large. We regret any inconveniences the recent development may have caused and you will be duly informed as soon as the NSE reaches an agreement with market operators.”
IHEANYI NWACHUKWU
