The Chief Executive Officer of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema, on Thursday in Lagos again expressed commitment to helping corporates and investors meet their financial and investment needs during this period and beyond.
Speaking at the first-ever Digital Closing Gong ceremony hosted via Instagram Live on Thursday, 16 April 2020, to honour the contribution of Sterling Bank Plc to the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria, Onyema spoke of the NSE’s determination to sustain an open and vibrant capital market.
Onyema said, “Following the activation of our Business Continuity Plan and our transition to remote working and trading, The Exchange has been resolute in its commitment to ensuring that there are no disruptions to operations for any of our stakeholders.
“We have leveraged our existing digital assets to ensure there is a continuous flow of information and activity in the market and are now looking at how we can deploy creative solutions to enhance our stakeholders’ experience during these unprecedented times,” he stressed.
The NSE boss identified the sounding of the closing gong to mark the end of the trading day as a treasured tradition The Exchange that has been impacted by the temporary closure of the trading floor, and one which presents an opportunity for digital engagement.
For him, “it has been our pleasure to rekindle the tradition of sounding the Closing Gong albeit digitally with Sterling Bank Plc. It would be remiss of me not to thank the Managing Director/CEO, Abubakar Suleiman for joining us to achieve this milestone and commend him for the notable efforts Sterling Bank is making to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria and support the Nigerian economy at this time.”
On his part, Suleiman expressed appreciation “to the NSE for leading the digital transformation of our market.
“These are interesting times we live in with the outbreak of Coronavirus changing the way we live and work. While we all come to terms with these new realities, I urge everyone to identify and leverage the opportunity we have been given to reset our nation and our businesses.”
Speaking on efforts at providing succor to stakeholders at this time, he noted that the bank is offering a range of solutions “to help Nigerians manage through temporary or extended periods of reduced or lost income as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak.
“We have reduced the restructuring fees on all new and existing loans by up to 50%; issued an extension of the repayment of loan obligations that are due, and suspended the penal charge for late minimum repayment on customer credit cards during this period; to name a few,” he assured.
Since the transition to remote trading, The Exchange has maintained its trading hours on normal trading days on the X-GEN platform; while supporting Dealing Member Firms with remote trading access through FIX, VPN and X-NET; provided guidelines to stakeholders on performing regulatory functions virtually through X-Issuer and X-Boss portals; engaged in capacity building exercises through webinars; and even successfully listed new investment instruments.