THE NATION WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013
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THE NATION INVESTORS
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NSE pledges support for GTI’s trading floor
HE Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has assured that it will give support to the operations of Nigeria’s first trading floor built by GTI Securities. The floor was built as part of efforts to deepen the capital market as a catalyst for national development. Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr Oscar Onyema, who gave this assurance during a visit to the trading floor at Central Business District, Marina, Lagos, described the initiative by GTI Securities as an exciting and trail-blazing innovation that will complement ongoing efforts to deepen the capital market into a $1 trillion capitalisation market. According to him, the NSE will provide supports to GTI because
•GTI is a trailblazer, says Onyema
Stories by Taofik Salako
the trail-blazing private trading floor will help to drive NSE’s stated goal of getting to $1 trillion in market capitalisation across five products. Situated on Tinubu Street in the Marina axis of Lagos’s main Central Business District, the trading floor built by GTI Securities Limited, a member of the GTI Capital Group; is a 150-seat multi-purpose trading floor. At full installed capacity, some 150 brokers and dealers can trade on all securities listed on any of the securities exchanges including Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and NASD Plc. “GTI has really impressed, you are blazing the trail in innovation
in the Nigerian capital market. We at the NSE are very supportive of your efforts and applaud you on taking the initiative to invest in this area. We believe that the sky is the limit,” Onyema said. The NSE chief executive fficer noted that the market is a whole ecosystem that requires the innovativeness and effectiveness of the regulators but of all other stakeholders reassuring that the NSE will continue to work closely with all stakeholders in the collective effort to grow the market. He pointed out that the economy and capital market have the depth to accommodate innovations and expansionary drives such as GTI’s, urging market operators to be cre-
ative and innovative. “We are very excited about what GTI is doing, congratulations,” Onyema told the management of GTI after listening to presentation and inspecting the state-of-the-art trading floor. Group managing director, GTI Capital Group, Mr. Abubakar Lawal, commended the NSE for providing the enabling environ-, ment for innovation and global competitiveness to thrive. According to him, GTI is positioned as one of the leading investment banking firm in Nigeria with its trading floor being the first in Nigeria and in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
•From left: Financial Secretary, Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners & Practitioners, Mr. Ayo Akinyemi; Public Relations Officer, Mr. Richard Ajayi; Chairman Lagos chapter, Mr. Oladimeji Adesanya; National President, Mr. Michael Ale and Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, Mrs. Tanwa Koya, during a courtesy visit by members of the association to LSWRC office in Lagos.
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HREE companies, including Jaiz Bank Plc, Resourcery Plc and SWAP Technologies and Telecomms Plc, have signed on for trading of their shares on the NASD Plc, the over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform for unquoted securities, bringing the total number of companies on the platform to 10. The Nation’s check indicated that the three companies were the latest addition to the growing list of companies on the NASD. The listing of the three companies on the NASD will open up liquidity for their shares and enable them to build transactional base that could be used as basis for new capital issue and future listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Other companies on the NASD included BGL Plc, Geo Fluids Plc, Consolidated Breweries Plc, Niger Delta Exploration & Production Plc, Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, Industrial and General Insurance Plc and Food Concepts Plc. Already, there have been transactions on five of the listed companies including Consolidated Breweries Plc, Niger Delta Exploration & Production Plc, Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, Industrial and General Insurance Plc and Food Concepts Plc. Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria is the most active stock on the OTC. The NASD OTC was formally launched on July 1 and opened for trading on July 2, 2013. Formerly known as the National Association
“We wish to make our trading floor as the vehicle for capital formation in Nigeria and we are committed to actualising this objective by providing necessary risk management and compliance process, investment in information and communication technology and re search and intelligence. Lawal said the trading floor will further open up domestic and global access to the Nigerian stock market and the NSE as independent foreign and Nigerian stockbrokers as well as high networth institutional and individual investors can use the GTI’s trading floor to trade directly on the NSE. Managing Director, GTI Securities, Mr. Tunde Oyekunle, said the GTI’s trading floor fitted perfectly into the realm of innovations by management of the NSE. According to him, the launching of the new trading software - XNet, market data initiative and implementation of FIX Protocol trading network have favourably positioned the Nigerian capital market within the financial global village. He said GTI Securities will provide virtual and back-up office to brokers facilitate seamless trading and settlement of transactions at the NSE through GTI’s trading floor. Managing Director, Trust Yields Securities Limited, Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf, said the GTI’s trading floor has placed the capital market on the global pedestal. According to him, the 150-seat trading floor is an innovation that brings the capital market to the same competitiveness that drive advanced and virile emerging markets across the world. “We are very excited about this initiative by GTI, we believe this is the way to go, we believe this is the way it’s being done all over the world,” Yussuf, a former president of the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), said. He also commended the management of the NSE for its continuous efforts to ensure that the capital market operate within the global best practices.
Jaiz Bank, others sign on for trading on NASD OTC
of Securities Dealers, NASD OTC is registered with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform for unquoted securities; including equities and bonds. Jaiz Bank is a public company owned by more than 3000 shareholders spread over the six geographical zones of Nigeria. It obtained a regional operating license to operate as a non-Interest bank from the Central Bank of Nigeria on November 11, 2011 and began full operations as the first non-interest bank in Nigeria on January 6, last year. Based on recommendations from Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which is also a shareholder of the bank, Jaiz Bank Plc has partnered with Islamic Bank Bangladesh (IBBL) for technical and management assistance. The regional license allows the bank to operate geographically in a third of the country. Jaiz Bank stated that it sees enormous business potential for its non-interest banking model given that not less than a population of over 78 million Nigerians, representing over 50 per cent of the country’s population , are likely to patronise non-interest banking. Resourcery is a technological solutions company with a vision to take advantage of the abundant market opportunities in Africa to challenge other global players in
the information and communications technology industry. “Partnering with our customers, we will empower them with advanced technologies to enable them achieve their aspirations and be winners in their marketplace. We will be proactive, responsive, and customer-friendly and focused, realizing that people are ultimate beneficiaries of our technology. We will be truly global with uniform and world class standards and practices, having motivated and high performing people with deep technical and functional skills. We will operate seamlessly across all the continents and will not be limited by country boundaries. Our name will be recognised and respected, being synonymous with quality and innovation,” Resourcery outlined in its profile. SWAP Technologies is a telecommunication infrastructure company. Its principal activities include provision of infrastructure sharing services, turnkey site deployment and cell site management services to the telecoms industry. For a company to be listed on the NASD, its shares must be fully-dematerialized and freely transferable as well as registered by the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). A 19-point admission requirement of the NASD, equivalent to the listing requirements of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), indicated that securities will be categorized broadly into two categories or tiers-pink and blue, based on their financial reporting and corporate governance standards. Companies under the pink tier are companies with appreciable growth potential but either with little and insufficient information or are too young. These are somewhat high-risk, high-potential securities. NASD will tag these companies with caveat explaining the conditions of the companies. The blue tier consists of companies with track record of high corporate governance and financial reporting standards. However, 13 admission requirements will apply to all securities for trading on the OTC market while six requirements differ, according to the level and categorization of the securities. According to the document, all companies for admission on the OTC market must be public limited liability (Plc), registered or exempted from registration by SEC, fully dematerialized and freely transferable and must come onboard through a NASD sponsor
or agent. Other preconditions for admission include acceptance that the securities must be traded through NASD registered brokers and dealers, opening of an account with the Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) and having international securities identification number (ISIN), provision of company’s business profile and trading history as well as provision of information on profitability and growth prospect. Also, the companies must sign on to continuous disclosure of new and any change in their business and corporate information, hold annual general meetings and other meetings and they should hold annual general meeting within nine months of year-end. Besides, all companies are expected to have minimum annual revenue equivalent to at least 20 per cent of their shareholders’ funds. The two tiers are also similar in terms of minimum public float, stipulated at 10 per cent of the issued and paid up shares. Meanwhile, companies under the pink tier must have been in operations for between one and three years as against minimum of five years required for blue-tier companies. Pink-tier companies are only required to provide audited report while blue-tier companies are required to provide quarterly reports in addition to audited reports.