Assets custodians woo foreign investors to financial markets

Leveraging reforms in the nation’s financial markets as well as proposed innovations that would bolster accountability and governance, the Association of Assets Custodians of Nigeria (AACN) has expressed optimism of foreign investors renewing their stakes in nation’s economy.

Preparatory to its fourth yearly investor conference, scheduled for the 7th of May, 2015, in London, the President of the Association, Mrs Kemi Adewole explained that the conference is designed to provide expert insight on Nigeria’s current market trends while unveiling opportunities in the nation’s economy.

According to her, the conference will provide a platform to facilitate dialogue between foreign investors and Nigerian capital/financial market operators, while keeping participants abreast of Nigerian securities market developments.

Themed “Nigeria: Navigating changes, extracting opportunities”, Adewole noted that general automation in the market was generally being driven by foreign portfolio investors because in the market that they are used to has been fully automated and Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind.

Specifically, Adewole added that the automation of the certificate of capital importation process is expected to increase the efficiency of the market; while the introduction of securities lending and the adoption of the Swift platform by the CSCS would further advance the expected positive outlook of the market.

“Our efforts will help to improve the perception of foreign investors and also improve our global rating which is significant in determining the amount that investors are prepared to stake in any economy. Our objective is to raise the status of the Nigerian market from being a frontier to an emerging market this year,” she said.

She noted that having foreign portfolio investors in the Nigerian economy was of prime importance because such investors bring some huge benefits to the table, one of which is the fact that by their very nature of high standards of performance and governance, they promote good corporate governance in the system.

“Foreign investors tend to bring progress to the market because they are always asking of improvement in the way things are done such as processes automation and removal of delays”, she added.

She disclosed that this year’s investor conference would host regulators from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as well as other participants from the Debt Management Office, FMDQ OTC Plc, NASD and the Institute of Capital Market Registrars (ICMR).