Arunma Oteh, director-general, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has challenged the Association of Assets Custodians of Nigeria (AACN) to seize the opportunity of the ongoing West African Capital Market Integration initiative to become a financial hub for the new integrated market being created.
She said this at the AACN 3rd Annual London Investors Conference held recently at the London Marriot West India Quay Hotel, Canary Wharf, London.
She commended the initiative displayed by the AACN in arranging the investor conference and the association’s consistency in ensuring the event holds annually for the third year running.
Oteh espoused the many attractions of Nigeria as an investment destination of choice such as the fact of being Africa’s largest economy with a rebased GDP of $510 billion, a consistent GDP growth rate averaging 7 percent in the past five years, the young and massive population, a rapidly emerging middle-class and the commitment to reform by government and regulators.
Delivering the second keynote address at the event, Sarah Alade, deputy governor, economic policy directorate, CBN, said in her presentation that Nigeria was ripe for investment. According to her, “reforms in all sectors of the economy have encouraged investment and inflows into the economy.”
She confirmed government’s commitment to encouraging private sector-led initiatives and those private sector participants such as the Dangote Group, and members of the aviation, manufacturing and agriculture industries were indeed getting involved in ongoing reform initiatives. Consequently, there has been significant improvement in the business environment on the country.
On asset custodianship in Nigeria, she said with the recent surge in capital inflows from international investors, there was even more need for assets custodianship and asset management in Nigeria, both local and international to safe keep the assets of prospective investors.
In a statement by Oluwatoyin Sanni, public relations officer, AACN, one major policy initiative the attendees requested of the CBN was the urgent need to assign ISIN (International Special Identification Numbers) to Nigerian Treasury Bills to align the instrument with other instruments in the market and to conform to international standards.
That initiative would effectively address the manual settlement and clearing of the instrument in the books of custodians.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
