Economy

Fintech: Investor Safety our Cardinal Objective—SEC

Published

3 years ago

14/05/2023

The Securities and Exchange Commission has said that the safety of investors and their investments in the capital market is one of its cardinal objectives in rolling out its Regulatory Incubation Programme for Fintechs.

This was stated by the Director of Registration, Exchanges, Market Infrastructure and Innovation at SEC, Mr Abdulkadir Abbas, during an interview in Abuja.

Abbas stated that the regulatory incubation program is a program that is designed as an interim measure to actually facilitate genuine regulation of Fintechs activities that will conform to the capital market issues.

He said the idea of coming up with this program which is like a sandbox, is to be able to come and test innovative ideas as stated in the SEC guidelines adding that the incubation period would be open for one year.

According to Abbas, “It is just for testing, it will not be approved at that stage, but all Fintech ideas that conform with investment activities are defined in Investment and Securities Act 2007 can be tested under that kind of program. As we informed the market, there is going to be an initial assessment before it can be on-boarded into the regulatory incubation program.

The SEC Director said the Commission, through the RI, is providing an avenue where fintechs can test their ideas without affecting the market integrity, adding that one of the other objectives is to be able to create an opportunity to solve an existing problem in the market.

Abbas stated that the takeoff has been very encouraging, with the SEC gaining traction with market participants showing more interest and having commenced the first stage, which is the initial fintech assessment route.

He disclosed that before the take-off of the RI, the SEC has been having engagement with various fintech applicants, some of whom are existing capital market operators.

“Some are existing market operators; some are actually new interests in the market, so we have been having this kind of engagement. And from the time when we announced the takeoff till today, what has been happening is that a lot of applicants are actually accessing what we call the initial assessment form, so there is a need which we can now be able to provide the initial information, and that is the first stage of onboarding you into the RI, that is where we are now.

“And we have had a couple of engagements, and what interests us really is the traction of new fintech companies providing a solution to an existing problem in the market. But what we are trying to do now very quickly is to encourage more of these fintechs to come now that we have opened this phase. We believe that it will really deepen the market and it will facilitate bringing new products into the market and new ideas will come on board towards a solution of an existing problem in the market. As I said earlier, the principal plan is to actually provide an avenue of new solutions without compromising on investor protection which is our key objective”.

Speaking on the legitimacy criteria, Abbass said, “Right, there are five legitimacy criteria. First of all, you must have a kind of idea that will really bring a solution to an existing problem. That is one of the legitimacy criteria. Second, as a fintech company, you must be able to really fill out the initial assessment form and demonstrate to the commission that your idea or proposal or solution has conformed to the investment activity that has been under the scope of the ISA, which is our own purview.

“Thirdly, you must be able to be ready to test live using a new test scope of the market with live investors or live customers as it were, and then you must be able to commit that you will abide by the rules and regulations if you’re onboarding and the last issue is that you should be ready to now commit that once the rules are put in place after you come out of the regulatory incubation you must now comply with the existing rule that will come out as a result of that testing because we too we are trying to learn and by the time that we learn, we can be able to come up with a rule that would now fit that kind of activity.

“So, in terms of response, we just started we are already getting more applications; even this morning, we received quite a number. So, I can say we have quite a number of applicants that are really interested in this testing using the regulatory incubation that the SEC has come up with”.

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NASD OTC Bourse Woes Continue, Further Loses 0.01%

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Economy

FrieslandCampina, Two Others Erase N26bn from NASD OTC Bourse

Published

3 minutes ago

20/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Three stocks stretched the bearish run of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.21 per cent on Friday, December 19, with the market capitalisation giving up N26.01 billion to close at N2.121 billion compared with the N2.147 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropping 43.47 points to 3,546.41 points from 3,589.88 points.

The trio of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, and NASD Plc overpowered the gains printed by four other securities.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N6.00 to sell at N54.00 per unit versus N60.00 per unit, NASD Plc shrank by N3.50 to N58.50 per share from N55.00 per share, and CSCS Plc depleted by N2.91 to N33.87 per unit from N36.78 per unit.

On the flip side, Air Liquide Plc gained N1.01 to close at N13.00 per share versus N11.99 per share, Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 70 Kobo to N7.68 per unit from N6.98 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc added 39 Kobo to sell at N5.50 per share versus N5.11 per share, and IPWA Plc rose by 8 Kobo to 85 Kobo per unit from 77 Kobo per unit.

During the trading day, market participants traded 1.9 million securities versus the previous day’s 30.5 million securities showing a decline of 49.3 per cent. The value of trades went down by 64.3 per cent to N80.3 million from N225.1 million, but the number of deals jumped by 32.1 per cent to 37 deals from 28 deals.

Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc finished the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units traded for N4.9 billion.

The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was still InfraCredit Plc with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.

Economy

Naira Crashes to N1,464/$1 at Official Market, N1,485/$1 at Black Market

Published

2 hours ago

20/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira at the two major foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday as it suffered a heavy loss against the United States Dollar at the close of transactions.

In the black market segment, the Naira weakened against its American counterpart yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,485/$1, in contrast to the N1,475/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank forex counter, it depreciated by N2 to settle at N1,467/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,465/$1.

In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) window, which is also the official market, the nation’s legal tender crashed against the greenback by N6.65 or 0.46 per cent to close at N1,464.49/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,457.84/$1.

In the same vein, the local currency tumbled against the Euro in the spot market by N2.25 to sell for N1,714.63/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,712.38/€1, but appreciated against the Pound Sterling by 73 Kobo to finish at N1,957.30/£1 compared with the N1,958.03/£1 it was traded in the preceding session.

The market continues to face seasonal pressure even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still conducting FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. Also, there seems to be reduced supply from exporters, foreign portfolio investors and non-bank corporate inflows.

President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the government’s N58.47 trillion budget plan aimed at consolidating economic reforms and boosting growth.

The budget is based on a projected crude oil price of $64.85 a barrel and includes a target oil output of 1.84 million barrels a day. It also projects an exchange rate of N1,400 to the Dollar.

President Tinubu said inflation had plunged to an annual rate of 14.45 per cent in November from 24.23 per cent in March, while foreign reserves had surged to a seven-year high of $47 billion.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was dominated by the bulls but it continues to face increased pressure after million in liquidations in previous session over accelerating declines, with Dogecoin (DOGE) recovering 4.2 per cent to trade at $0.1309.

Further, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 3.9 per cent to $1.90, Cardano (ADA) rose by 3.5 per cent to $0.3728, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.4 per cent to $126.23, Ethereum (ETH) climbed by 2.9 per cent to $2,982.42, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 2.0 per cent to sell for $853.06, Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 1.7 per cent to $88,281.21, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 1.2 per cent to $76.50, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.

Economy

Crude Oil Prices Climb as US Blocks Venezuelan Tankers

Published

3 hours ago

20/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil prices edged up on possible disruptions from a US blockade of Venezuelan tankers as the market waits for news about a possible Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

Brent futures rose 65 cents or 1.1 per cent to $60.47 per barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 51 cents or 0.9 per cent to $56.66 per barrel. Both Brent and WTI were down about 1 per cent this week after both crude benchmarks fell about 4 per cent last week.

US President Donald Trump said he was leaving the possibility of war with Venezuela on the table, noting that there would be additional seizures of oil tankers near Venezuelan waters after the US seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week.

The American President this week ordered a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in the US’ latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro’s government, targeting its main source of income. The pressure campaign on President Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed at least 90 people.

President Trump has also previously said that US land strikes on the South American country will soon start.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said that the US is not concerned about an escalation with Russia when it comes to Venezuela, as the Trump administration builds up military forces in the Caribbean.

This development comes as President Trump seeks an end to the unending war between Ukraine and Russia that is heading towards its fourth year.

European Union leaders decided on Friday to borrow cash to loan 90 billion Euros to Ukraine to fund its defense against Russia for the next two years as Russian President Vladimir Putin offered no compromise on Friday on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine and accused the European Union of attempting “daylight robbery” of Russian assets.

Ukraine, meanwhile, struck a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea with aerial drones for the first time.

Earlier this week, the US and Ukraine both signaled progress in negotiations about a peace agreement during talks in German capital city of Berlin. The US is now reportedly offering Ukraine security guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense pledge.