The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer-designate of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Temi Popoola, has presented a strategy for bridging the gap between Nigeria’s millions of bank accounts and the existing number of market investors.
Popoola, who took over the exchange’s leadership on the final trading day in 2023, made the remarks on Thursday while speaking to exchange leaders from across the world at the World Federation of Exchanges’ working group committee meeting.
This meeting was hosted by Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt Germany.
He stated, “We realize the glaring gap between current capital market investors and the huge potential offered by Nigeria’s 65 million banking accounts.
“Our objective is to overcome this gap by bringing millions into the capital market and promoting financial inclusion on an unprecedented scale.”
Popoola continued, “Listings and foreign capital inflows have become a challenge in similar emerging markets, and contributions from other exchange CEOs in Kenya and Egypt reflected the challenges encountered by the Nigerian market.
Popoola noted that the organization was looking into deepening data income generating and engaging market infrastructure stakeholders, from CCPs to CSDs, in meaningful API interactions to improve agility.
There have been concerns about the exodus of foreign investors from Nigeria.
While local investors have established a solid foundation for the market, economists anticipate that international investors’ re-entry will significantly strengthen the market.
The government’s recent policy measures, which include the harmonization of foreign exchange market sectors and the removal of fuel subsidies, are expected to increase foreign investors’ trust in the market.
The latest report from the NGX showed that as of November, the total international transactions stood at N363 billion, while domestic transactions stood at N2.871tn
