At inception, the management of NASD plc predicted that the OTC market in Nigeria will evolve into a West African financial hub in 10 years with the first three years of this time as a gestation period for steady operations. To date, the OTC platform for trading of unlisted securities has done deals worth N3.44 billion, having N1.06 billion as trades for this year alone.
The emergence of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule on trading in unlisted securities has heightened activities in the OTC market with more applications from Participating Institutions and Authorised traders being recorded.
The securities currently trading on the NASD OTC platform are predominantly of Nigerian companies. “By the end of 2016, not only do we hope to increase this number from the present 19 securities, we also expect to admit securities from non-Nigerian public companies and Nigerian companies with significant business operations in other countries,” the NASD notes in its recent report.
It also says that the possibility of strategic partnerships with other countries is imminent and this would greatly increase the liquidity of the OTC markets for unlisted securities and drive the internationalisation, which the market seeks to achieve.
