Economy
FMDQ Unveils Rate for Special Forex Window
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A reference exchange rate for the newly introduced special foreign exchange window for investors and exporters by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been introduced by the Financial Market Dealers Quote (FMDQ).
FMDQ said on Monday that the reference rate would be published 12 noon every day via three packages: live fix available at 12:00 noon daily via the FMDQ e-Markets Portal; delayed (24 hours) published via the FMDQ website; and historical, available via the FMDQ e-Markets Portal.
The newly introduced reference exchange rate is called the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate Fixing (NAFEX).
Last week, the central bank introduced a special foreign exchange window for investors and exporters aimed to boost liquidity in the foreign exchange market and ensure timely execution and settlement for eligible transactions.
According to FMDQ, NAFEX will NAFEX will “benefit the Nigerian economy in general and the financial industry in particular in a number of ways, including serving as a fixing for the settlement of FX derivatives, promoting transparency and awareness of USD/NGN rates, enabling foreign and local investors benefit from a market-driven independent reference rate and increasing forward contracts usage towards a reduction of investments in currency principals and foreign currency line utilisation.
Other benefits include developing hedge products and derivatives, thus improving the standard of the Nigerian FX market, providing growth and income potentials for market players through the trading of hedging products, and serving as a benchmark for portfolio valuations, conversions, performance measurement and audits.
Explaining the fixing methodology, FMDQ stated that the NAFEX Spot Rates “shall be determined as detailed below and contributing banks shall be expected to submit only ‘professional spot quotes’.
“Where a contributing bank submits an unprofessional quote, such a quote will automatically be disqualified from the NAFEX computation. Contributing banks shall quote single rates for transaction sizes of $5 million and above or as advised by FMDQ, at the time of the poll.”
It stated further that, the polled rate would be based on the “submissions of 10 contributing banks and calculated using a trimmed arithmetic mean.
“Upon receipt of quotes, the individual contributing banks’ submission is ranked in descending order. The lowest and highest two quotes are eliminated from the ranked rates leaving only the middle six rates.
“The arithmetic mean of the remaining rates is then calculated to two decimal places and disseminated as the NAFEX Spot Rate.”
”Where FMDQ receives fewer than the required number of submissions by the time NAFEX is due for publication, the reduced submissions methodology detailed below shall apply:
“NAFEX will be published provided that two (2) or more quotes are obtained on a daily basis
“The calculation methodology shall remain the same irrespective of the number of submissions received. However, under the reduced submissions methodology, the number of submissions excluded on the high and the low side (‘topped and tailed’) shall apply,” it explained further.
FMDQ stated also said, “In instances where there are quotes below the documented threshold, the previous day’s NAFEX shall be maintained and published as the current NAFEX.
“In circumstances of a force majeure event, leading to the unavailability of quotes in the market, the previous day’s NAFEX will be maintained and published as the current NAFEX.
“Any republished rates from the previous business day shall be identified as such on the FMDQ e-Markets Portal.
“After five consecutive business days of republishing the previous day’s NAFEX (in this case, the NAFEX of 5 business days prior), an FMDQ Market Review Committee meeting shall be convened in a special session to devise a strategy for the appropriate determination of future NAFEX during the extreme market condition, towards preserving the continuity of the NAFEX publication.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate has passed a bill to repeal and re-enact the law establishing the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), paving the way for the regulatory agency to be renamed the Insurance Regulatory Commission (IRC).
The legislation, titled the Insurance Regulatory Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2026, was passed after the Senate considered and adopted the report of its committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East, who presented the report, stated that the proposed legislation was necessary because the existing National Insurance Commission Act of 1997 had become outdated and no longer reflected the realities of Nigeria’s evolving insurance industry or global regulatory standards.
According to the Senate, the decision to change the Commission’s name was informed by the need to eliminate confusion associated with the existing designation and to better reflect the institution’s regulatory mandate within Nigeria’s insurance industry.
The bill also provides legal protection for the commission and its officers against adverse claims arising from the lawful execution of their statutory duties.
However, he noted that the commission’s enabling law had become obsolete, exposing significant regulatory gaps that required urgent legislative intervention.
‘The current National Insurance Commission Act 1997 is outdated and does not adequately address the emerging economic growth, needs and development of the insurance business,” the lawmaker said.
He explained that the new legislation seeks to strengthen the independence of the commission by empowering it to make regulatory decisions without undue influence in the country’s insurance sector.
According to him, the bill also enhances the commission’s authority to exchange information and collaborate with domestic and international regulatory bodies, issue regulations, guidelines, standards and directives on insurance-related matters, and intervene more effectively in financially distressed insurance companies to protect policyholders and preserve financial stability.
This marks yet another move to strengthen the country’s insurance sector following the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) of 2025 and the industry-wide recapitalisation exercise, which will wrap up by July 31.
By Adedapo Adesanya
About 143 companies that successfully passed the technical and prequalification stages of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) 2025 Licensing Round will, today, compete for 50 oil and gas blocks at the commercial bid conference in Abuja, the final stage in the allocation process for the assets.
The commission said only the prequalified companies have been invited to attend the event, which will hold at the Conference Centre of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, stressing that participation is strictly by invitation.
The commercial bid conference will determine the successful bidders for oil and gas assets located across Nigeria’s producing and frontier basins.
The 50 blocks comprise 16 onshore blocks and 18 shallow water blocks in the Niger Delta, one deep offshore block, three onshore blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin, and four in the Benue Trough.
According to the commission, the winning bids will be determined through a transparent evaluation process based on clearly defined commercial parameters. These include the signature bonus offered by bidders, the proposed work programme commitment and the level of performance security provided. The final selection will be based on a weighted technical and commercial score.
The licensing round is being conducted under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which requires a transparent and competitive process for the award of petroleum assets.
NUPRC had announced the commencement of the 2025 Licensing Round on November 11, 2025, before opening the online bid portal on December 1, 2025, to enable interested companies to register and participate in the exercise.
To ensure prospective investors fully understood the requirements, the commission organised a pre-bid conference on January 14, 2026, at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos. The event provided detailed explanations on the licensing guidelines and bidding procedures to registered participants and other stakeholders.
Registration and submission of prequalification documents closed on February 27, 2026, while the prequalification evaluation was completed on March 16, 2026.
NUPRC disclosed that 286 companies initially submitted applications for prequalification.
Following the evaluation process, 196 companies were cleared to participate in the technical and commercial bid stages.
The prequalified 143 companies eventually submitted a total of 200 bids for the available oil and gas blocks. These companies are now set to compete at the commercial bid conference, where the financial offers will be opened and evaluated to determine the eventual winners.
The licensing round is expected to attract fresh investment into Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector, boost exploration activities across both producing and frontier basins, increase crude oil and gas reserves, and support the country’s drive to grow production and government revenue.
It also underscores the regulator’s commitment to implementing a transparent, competitive and investor-friendly licensing regime under the Petroleum Industry Act.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained all key monetary policy parameters following the conclusion of its two-day meeting on July 21, 2026, on Tuesday, maintaining its tight monetary policy stance to curb inflation and support macroeconomic stability.
According to the Governor of the apex bank, Mr Yemi Cardoso, who chaired the committee, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which serves as the benchmark interest rate, remains at 26.50 per cent. The MPC also retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +50 basis points and -450 basis points.
In addition, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks was left unchanged at 45.00 per cent, while the CRR for merchant banks remains at 16.00 per cent. The committee also retained the CRR on non-Treasury Single Account (Non-TSA) public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent, with the liquidity ratio at 30.00 per cent.
The decision reflects the apex bank’s continued commitment to containing inflationary pressures through a restrictive monetary policy while safeguarding the resilience of Nigeria’s financial system amid ongoing macroeconomic adjustments.
By keeping all policy tools unchanged, the MPC signalled its intention to continue managing excess liquidity in the banking sector and maintain stability in financial markets.
The move is also expected to provide greater policy certainty for investors and businesses monitoring the country’s monetary policy direction.
The latest decision also means borrowing costs are likely to remain elevated in the near term as the central bank continues to prioritise price stability over monetary easing.
Analysts had expected the CBN committee to retain the rate after Nigeria’s headline inflation came in at 15.91 per cent as of June 2026, marking a slight decline from 15.93 per cent in May.
However, even as overall price growth has moderated significantly compared to previous periods, food inflation remains a persistent challenge, accelerating to 17.52 per cent in June.
