•May Hit N1tr By December
The management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Fund Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN), on Thursday in Lagos held a joint workshop aimed at wooing retail investors into the mutual funds market, in view of the several advantages offered over those play directly in the volatile stock market.
Welcoming participants to the workshop on behalf of the NSE management, Jude Chiemeka, Divisional Head, Trading Business noted that as a result of the expertise of mutual fund managers, funds under management has recorded exponential growth in the past few years. That is why, he noted, mutual funds have become the fastest recording 29% growth in Net Asset Value (NAV), in the eight months between January and August 2019.
Within the same period, the NSE’s benchmark All-Share index (ASI) lost 12.42%, according to Investdata Research.
Specifically, Chiemeka explained that as of year-end 2018, Nigeria’s Mutual Funds Industry had a Net Asset Value of N621.6bn from 78 registered funds, an amount that ballooned to N801.5bn from 87 registered Funds, at the end of August 2019.
The NAV of that segment of the market, he continued, is “projected to hit the N1tr mark by the end of the year 2019.”
He attributed the growing interest in Mutual Funds to “their being professionally managed investment vehicles which offer diversification benefits to a broad range of investors.”
The workshop, he continued, comes on the back of the launch of the Exchange’s Mutual Funds Trading Platform in February 2019, in collaboration with the Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), Fund Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) and Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) to further enhance access to wide range of open-ended funds in Nigeria.
“The innovative platform facilitates electronic transactions in Mutual Funds in a seamless and efficient manner. In addition, the platform gives investors the benefit of a single view of their mutual fund investments while being able to invest with multiple fund managers through a single broker. The launch of the platform lends credence to our commitment to provide market operators, issuers, fund managers and investors with a reliable, efficient and an adaptable platform that creates a more transparent, liquid and accessible market in line with global best practices.”
Over the next few months, he assured that the NSE plans to roll out measures and initiatives, besides “leading further engagements aimed at providing an avenue for market stakeholders to engage on the prospects of Mutual Funds in Nigeria, promoting the usage of the Exchange’s Mutual Funds Platform and ultimately stimulating investor interest in Mutual Funds.”
He appreciated the unwavering support of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the FMAN, as well as event sponsors- FBN Asset Management, Greenwich Asset Management, Investment One Asset Management, and Stanbic IBTC AM.
Photo caption: From left, Benedicta Osigbemhe, Relationship Manager, Investment One Funds Management; Efiok E. Efiok, Head, Investment Management Department, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Omotola Imafidon, Stockbroker, FBNQuest Securities; Oluwatoyin Alake, Head, Secondary Markets, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Adeyemi Aloyinlapa, Head, Direct Sales, FBNQuest Asset Management; Kike Mesubi, Representative, Fund Managers Association of Nigeria and Abimbola Babalola, Head, Market Surveillance, NSE, during the Mutual Funds Workshop at the Exchange on Thursday, October 3, 2019.
