By Dipo Olowookere
The year 2017 has shown a steady flow of transactions and activities in the Naira-settled OTC FX Futures market.
This market, which was borne out of the desire to address the need for risk management in the Nigerian FX market has continued to show appreciable potential as an effective hedging product for investors (local and international), businesses and government institutions alike.
To date, $10.38 billion worth of OTC FX Futures contracts have traded so far with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remaining steadfast in its commitment to ensuring the success of the market.
As it has been the norm for 17 maturities on FMDQ, the OTC FX Futures Exchange, the 18th OTC FX Futures contract matured and settled successfully on December 27, 2017.
Having ceased trading on December 20, 2017, in line with the OTC FX Futures Market Operational Standards, the 18th OTC FX Futures contract, NGUS DEC 27 2017, with notional amount $499.20 million, matured and settled on FMDQ.
This brings the total value of contracts so far matured on FMDQ to $7.35 billion. A new contract, NGUS DEC 26 2018, for $1 billion at $/N362.84 has been introduced by the CBN to replace the matured contract.
Also, quotes on the existing 1- to 11-month contracts have been updated and are published daily as open contracts on FMDQ’s website at www.fmdqotc.com, as well as on the FMDQ Twitter page @FMDQOTCExchange.