FMDQ Holdings plc (FMDQ Group or FMDQ), Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure (FMI) group, held its 8th annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday, July 24, 2020, following the respective AGMs of its wholly owned subsidiaries – FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited (FMDQ Exchange), FMDQ Clear Limited (FMDQ Clear), and FMDQ Depository Limited (FMDQ Depository), on July 23.
In compliance with the COVID-19 directives and guidelines of the Lagos State government that prohibits gatherings of more than 20 persons, and FMDQ’s commitment to keeping its staff and stakeholders safe, the AGMs held virtually, with the shareholders and other attendees participating in the proceedings via Zoom.
Presiding over the FMDQ Group AGM, the newly appointed Group chairman of the Board of Directors, Kingsley Obiora, presented the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019, to shareholders, together with the reports of the directors and auditors.
He stated, “FMDQ achieved a resilient performance amidst the challenging operating environment, due to strategic initiatives implemented in its first strategic lustrum (2015 – 2019), which mitigated the impact of volatile market conditions.”
According to Obiora, “2019 was a year of growth, expansion, and reorganisation for FMDQ, with the consolidation of its flagship wholly owned subsidiary, FMDQ Exchange, the second year of the operationalisation of its wholly owned subsidiary, FMDQ Clear, and the activation of another wholly owned subsidiary, FMDQ Depository, making significant progress in its bid to help de-risk the financial markets by constructing market infrastructures in all components of the capital market value chain, from pre-trade, trade to post-trade.”
He further stated that through FMDQ Securities Exchange, the Group admitted a total of 84 securities split across bonds, commercial papers (CPs), and funds from various sectors for listing and quotation on the platform of its platform, in addition to the registration of several CP Programmes.
2019 also saw the strengthening of the operational and strategic capacities of FMDQ’s clearing, settlement, and depository businesses in line with their drive to create value for stakeholders in the Nigerian financial market.
Consequently, FMDQ Clear focused on building operational readiness and capabilities to extend its services from just clearing and settlement to providing central counterparty (CCP) services in the near term, whilst FMDQ Depository leveraged the digitised and integrated structure of FMDQ Group to operationalise its new business; yielding positive results and further paving the way for the Depository to actualise its vision of becoming the Depository of Choice in Nigeria.
Furthermore, as part of the Ordinary Business of the AGM, the shareholders of FMDQ ratified, among other things, the appointment of the new Group chairman, Kingsley Obiora, deputy governor, Economic Policy Directorate, Central Bank of Nigeria; Emeka Onwuka, partner and head of private clients and Family Wealth Practice at Andersen Tax in Nigeria, and Sadiq Mohammed, deputy Group CEO of the Asset & Resource Management (ARM), both serving as Non-Executive Directors on the Board of FMDQ.
Looking ahead, the Group managing director/CEO of FMDQ, Bola Onadele Koko, noted FMDQ’s commitment, with the support and collaboration of its stakeholders, to the development of a thriving derivatives market in Nigeria by launching new hedging products in 2020. Furthermore, the Group shall continue to enhance the readiness of FMDQ Clear to operate a fully-fledged CCP upon regulatory approval, while making efforts through FMDQ Depository to facilitate interoperability among the central securities depositories in Nigeria to enable seamless processing of clients’ transactions.
Also, with the incorporation of its newest wholly owned subsidiary, FMDQ Private Markets Limited (FMDQ Private Markets) in January 2020, the Group shall focus on promoting the development of organised private capital, providing the much-needed transparency in the market for private debt and equity securities, by eliminating information asymmetry and ultimately improving credibility in the market for private issuances.
