In a move that could significantly draw foreign investor attention to the country’s debt capital markets and boost foreign investment inflows, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange (“FMDQ”), and S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”), will today begin a joint branding of Nigeria’s sovereign bond index.
FMDQ Securities, the country’s largest securities exchange with annual turnover of US$650 billion and the world’s leading provider of financial market indices, S&P DJI had in 2017 announced the signing of a cooperation agreement to create and launch co-branded fixed income indices.
Today, the successful transition of the S&P/FMDQ Nigeria Sovereign Bond Index marks the activation of the inaugural co-branded index under the agreement.
A range of other S&P/FMDQ Fixed Income indices will be developed under the agreement according to a statement issued by FMDQ securities. The S&P/FMDQ Nigeria Sovereign Bond Index, formerly branded as S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Index, tracks the performance of local currency denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the government of Nigeria in its domestic market.
“We are pleased to collaborate with FMDQ to create benchmarks for Nigeria’s domestic fixed income markets. This is S&P Dow Jones Indices’ first ever agreement with an Africa-based securities exchange to offer fixed income indices. The successful transition of the S&P/FMDQ Nigeria Sovereign Bond Index marks the beginning of our joint efforts to establish a more transparent environment for market participants to gain insights into the Nigerian capital markets.” Alex Matturri, CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices said.
Bola Onadele. Koko, Managing Director/CEO, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, the new initiative is part of the “GOLD” (Global Competitiveness, Operational Excellence, Liquid & Diverse) agenda of the FMDQ for the Nigerian financial markets. He assured that the exchange is committed to developing and increasing the market accessibility for all stakeholders including the investors.
“We are delighted to collaborate with S&P Dow Jones Indices to further deepen the markets through these index-based solutions and measures. As we see more domestic and global demand, for diverse and innovative investment products, the S&P/FMDQ index family will critically serve to raise the global exposure of the Nigeria fixed income assets and represent an opportunity to increase trading flows to the Nigerian financial markets.”
S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Most asset managers globally invest their funds by tracing these indices. S&P DJI claims that more assets are invested in products based on its indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world.
“Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets.”
FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange is Nigeria’s foremost debt capital, foreign exchange and derivatives over-the-counter (OTC) securities exchange.
