Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The FGN savings bond was created by the federal government a few years ago to meet the investment demands of low-income earners in the country.
Before the introduction of the financial asset, Nigerians had the opportunity to invest in treasury bills for as low as N10,000, but the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which sells T-bills on behalf the Debt Management Office (DMO), raised the minimum subscription for the bills to N50 million.
This development made nearly it impossible for low-income earners to invest in government securities and the sovereign bonds available also required high minimum subscription to partake in them.
This made the debt office to design the FGN savings bond to attract retail investors, who wish to earn steady revenue by lending money to the government to carry out some critical infrastructure in the country. The minimum subscription for this was pegged at N5,000.
Since its introduction, investors have been embracing the papers and in the first week of every month, the DMO auctions the bonds in two different maturities; 2-year and 3-year.
For the month of December 2020, the offer opened on Monday, December 7 and will close on Friday, December 11.
However, not many people know how to go about purchasing this bond targeted at retail investors with a maximum subscription of N50 million. This is what this article hopes to help readers with.
To buy the FGN savings bond, an investor needs to open a stockbroker’s account and this should be with the notable names. In fact, not all brokerage firms are accredited to sell the notes.
Opening a stockbroker’s account is cheap and can be done for as low as N10,000. You can read about the favourite brokerage companies among Nigerian investors HERE.
After you have opened the account, you are good to go. You just have to request for the FGN savings subscription form, where you will be required to supply some details like your biodata, account details, including the BVN, which is a must for every financial transaction done in Nigeria.
A sample of the subscription form is in this article for guidance.
After all the information is supplied, the next stage is to make payment to the stockbroker’s account and the payment details, proof of payment, sent to the broker for confirmation. This can be done via an email or the chatbox if the company has one.
These are all the things needed to buy the FGN savings bond.
It is important to state that interests paid on the investment vary almost every month. For this month, the DMO is offering the 2-year paper at 1.32 per cent and the 3-year at 1.82 per cent per annum. The interest, which is also called the coupon, is paid four times a year.
On Wednesday, December 16, 2020, the federal government will credit the CSCS accounts of subscribers with the volume of bonds bought.
In the event you intend to sell your FGN savings bond before maturity to use the funds for emergencies, there is always an opening for that because the bonds are traded at the secondary market on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Do you require any additional information, please feel free to use the comment box, I will be readily available to respond to your questions.
