FMDQ Group honours financial markets’ performers

FMDQ Holdings Plc has awarded 34 companies as winners of its 2020 GOLD Awards in recognition of the demonstrated resilience and agility of the Nigerian financial market participants and their valuable efforts across the various segments of the market.

The FMDQ GOLD Awards celebrates FMDQ Group’s ideals of global competitiveness, operational excellence, liquidity and diversity, known as GOLD Agenda.

FMDQ Group stated that the awardees had positively shaped the fixed income, foreign exchange and derivatives markets and the financial market infrastructure (FMI) value chain of FMDQ’s business including exchange, central counterparty, depository and private markets.

According to FMDQ Group, despite an exceptionally tough year in 2020, owing to the outbreak of the novel COVID-19 pandemic that affected the global economies and financial markets, as well as the recent social unrest in the country, the Nigerian financial market participants continued to play an all-important role in stabilising the economy at large, providing a viable avenue for governments, corporates, and individuals to efficiently raise capital, transfer value and manage their risks, and remaining relentless in their quest to make the Nigerian financial market GOLD agenda.

Group Chairman, FMDQ Group, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, said that the year 2020 has been a truly challenging yet rewarding year; one which has stretched the resilience of the market and at the same time availed opportunities to deepen the markets.

He noted that FMDQ Group commenced the year with great optimism as it became a capital market holding company, and Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure group, with four market subsidiaries.

He assured that despite the economic downturns which the global and local economies face, the FMDQ Group remains committed to the actualisation of its GOLD Agenda.

Director-General , Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner, Operations, SEC, Mr. Temidayo Obisan, reiterated the commitment of the SEC towards collaborating with the financial market stakeholders, including the financial market infrastructures, to define appropriate market structures, create an enabling environment, build a transparent and efficient market and ultimately reduce systemic risks and protect investor interests.

Expressing her delight at the innovative strides of the FMIs, including FMDQ, and other market participants, Ms. Arunma Oteh, former Director General of SEC and former Treasurer and Vice President at the World Bank, congratulated the winners, nominees, finalists and other stakeholders within the wider ecosystem, for their immeasurable contributions towards making the Nigerian financial market truly GOLD.

Chief Executive Officer, FMDQ Group, Mr. Bola Onadele. Koko, noted the uniqueness of this year’s commemoration, highlighting the challenges posed to the market by the COVID-19 pandemic, and lauding the efforts of the participants at maintaining the integrity and resilience of the market.

He said FMDQ, as a critically important financial market infrastructure in Nigeria, recognises that an efficient financial market is the collective effort of all stakeholders.

He added that, through the actualisation of its GOLD Agenda – which presents opportunities for reforms with far reaching implications for the transformation and development of the Nigerian financial markets – FMDQ shall continue to work with all stakeholders to facilitate the delivery of prosperity to Nigeria and Nigerians.

There were 31 award categories and 34 award winners, with joint winners in two categories. Winning for the third time in a row, Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited bagged the award for the Primary Markets Champion – Capital Markets Securities Origination Award; and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, also for the third time, emerged the Secondary Markets Champion, winning the FMDQ Dealing Member Award, amongst six other awards amongst the Stanbic IBTC entities.

Dangote Group won four awards, with three of these bagged by Dangote Cement Plc, including the Largest Corporate Bond and the Largest Commercial Paper Awards. Chapel Hill Denham, won three awards, including the FMDQ Registration Member (Listings) and the Most Active Securities Lodgement Sponsor Awards. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) bagged the Financial Market Regulator Market Transformation Initiative Award for the provision of enabling regulatory environment for central counterparty (CCP) in Nigeria through the release of CCP Rules and granting of an Approval-in-Principle for CCP – FMDQ Clear Limited as well as for fostering of derivatives market development via the release of the Rules on Regulation of Derivatives Trading, as voted by FMDQ Members and Clients.

Three FMDQ dealing member banks – Stanbic IBTC Bank, Access Bank and United Bank for Africa – were also awarded gold, silver and bronze respectively, for a new Award category – FMDQ Markets Liquidity Resilience Award – for significantly contributing to sustained liquidity and market activity, despite the slowdown in the domestic and global economies, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was also recognised with the FMDQ Capital Market Catalyst Award, for the facilitation of enactment of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020, which has the potential to significantly impact the Nigerian capital markets.

To maintain the integrity of the awards in line with best practices, an independent validation exercise was carried out by Ernst & Young Nigeria, a global leader in/ assurance services, and all validated results, including winners, nominees and finalists, and awards descriptions.

FMDQ Group is Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure group which provides registration, listing and quotation, trading, central counterparty, settlement, risk management and depository services for financial market transactions, as well as data and information services, through its wholly owned subsidiaries – FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, FMDQ Clear Limited, FMDQ Depository Limited and FMDQ Private Markets Limited – and is driven by its mission to collaborate to empower markets for economic progress towards delivering prosperity.