FMDQ Holdings Plc at the weekend reported that its Exchange subsidiary admitted 82 securities, with a total value of ₦2.07tr on its platform, just as it activated its Equity Market Development Project towards full operationalisation of the market.
Also, the FMDQ Exchange-Traded Derivatives (ETD) Market Development Project, following significant financial markets developments, such as the long-awaited introduction of netting and other relevant laws in the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2004.
Speaking on FMDQ Clear, at its 9th Annual General Meeting (AGM) virtually on Friday, July 30, 2021, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, Group Chairman of the Board of Directors, said the receipt of an Approval-in-Principle from the SEC in September 2020 on its registration as Nigeria’s foremost Central Counterparty (CCP), and a full registration from the SEC in 2021, has effectively positioned FMDQ Clear for the actualisation of its vision of becoming a globally accepted CCP by 2025.
FMDQ Depository was not left out of the mix, as it also achieved considerable growth as evidenced in the admission of a total of 21 securities valued at about ₦411bn in 2020, driven by the activation of its market penetration strategy for its securities-related services, despite the downturn in the operating environment.
Obiora, represented by Jibril Aku, the Vice Chairman, presented the audited statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, recounted FMDQ’s journey in 2020, acknowledged that “the year 2020 was understandably challenging, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the attendant turbulence in the global and domestic economic landscapes”.
He added that despite the challenges, “2020 was a landmark year for FMDQ, as it saw the Company’s reorganisation into a Group structure, with FMDQ Group becoming a non-operating Holding Company registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with three SEC-registered capital market subsidiaries. These regulated subsidiaries include FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, FMDQ Clear Limited, and FMDQ Depository Limited, all further consolidating our business model, transforming FMDQ into Africa’s first vertically integrated FMI group, and helping to de-risk the markets across the full capital market value chain, from pre-trade, trade to post-trade.”
Speaking further, he stated that two new subsidiaries, FMDQ Private Markets Limited and iQx Consult Limited, were operationalised in 2020 to extend the opportunities in the capital market to private companies, amongst others, and ensure operational efficiency and build resilience in the FMDQ Entities through technology and digitization, respectively.
Speaking to the outlook for 2021 and beyond, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Bola Onadele. Koko, assured that it “will continue to work assiduously to deliver innovative and critical market development initiatives, with the support of and in collaboration with its stakeholders”.
Some of the initiatives market participants can look forward to in the near-term include, the group said in a statement, include the launch of FMDQ Exchange’s Fixed Income Futures products, having received the SEC’s approval for the FMDQ Exchange; Derivatives Market Rules in February 2021, and the activation of the Repo market with collateral management service; FMDQ Clear’s activation of CCP services for financial market transactions (cash and derivatives) having received the SEC’s approval for its Clearing Member Rules in April 2021. Others are the FMDQ Depository’s extension of its services to new asset classes and customer segments, and further digitisation of its Participants interfaces and services; and, the activation of FMDQ Private Markets’ Startup Accelerator and Liquidity Ecosystem (SCALE) product, supported by the Oxford Foundry, the entrepreneurial centre of the University of Oxford, UK, which will extend much-needed opportunities to market segments that are currently poorly served by capital providers and drive inclusive growth and development of the Nigerian economy.
Onadele concluded that “Despite the lingering effects of the pandemic on the economy and the minimal recovery recorded thus far in 2021, FMDQ Group assures its stakeholders of a renewed commitment to channel adequate resources towards achieving the set objectives for the markets under its purview, while continuing to work assiduously towards the swift activation of robust and thriving Derivatives and Equity Markets, as well as consolidating the Group’s Debt Markets leadership position”.
