Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The acceptance of mutual funds in the Nigerian capital market is now encouraging, though more efforts still needed to be done to grow the asset class.
Business Post reports that mutual funds involve the pooling of money from different investors for investment in financial assets like bonds, treasury bills, equities and others.
On Tuesday, March 2, 2021, the Fund Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) was virtually at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The group, led by its newly elected president, Mrs Tope Omojokun, was honoured with the digital closing gong ceremony.
While speaking at the event, the Divisional Head of Listings Business at the NSE, Mr Olumide Bolumole, disclosed that the participation of investors in mutual funds in Nigeria was encouraging.
According to him, “As at February 19, 2021, the number of registered mutual funds with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has grown to 102 with NAV of over N1.43 trillion from 76 in 2019 with Net Asset Value (NAV) in excess of N600 billion.”
He further said 56 of these funds with NAV of over N1.24 trillion are listed on the NSE, representing 88.3 per cent of the total NAV.
“This confirms the NSE as the preferred listing destination for this asset class and we will continue to strategically position ourselves to support the growth of our fund managers and our stakeholders,” he said.
Mr Bolumole commended FMAN for the “continuous collaboration in ensuring increased efficiency and investor participation in the Nigerian mutual funds market.” He also congratulated Mrs Omojokun on her election as president of the group.
In her remarks, Mrs Omojokun praised the exchange, saying “working with the NSE has brought about the trading of listed funds on the exchange and are working towards the display of mutual funds prices on the ticker tape of the NSE.”
“Furthermore, we are collaborating with the X-Academy to train our members and the public on adopting best investment practices and we look forward to other avenues to work together for the development of the capital market,” she noted.
The FMAN chief explained that the association was “established to promote the operations of fund managers registered with the SEC and its objectives include self-regulation and supervision of its members; the enforcement of global best practices in its members’ operations, and most importantly, the education of the public on investments.”
Recall that in 2020, the exchange admitted the N500 million ARM Fixed Income Fund and the $1 million ARM Eurobond Fund on its memorandum listing platform.
