By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) Wednesday unveiled Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers as Brokers to its Bonds on the Floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos Nigeria.

Abraham Nwankwo, Director General, (DG) DMO, at the event said the appointment has given Stanbic IBTC permission to act as a liaison between the DMO, NSE, Stockbrokers and other Capital Market Stakeholders and to ensure that all activities in FGN Bonds and other FGN securities that may be listed in future are done with due diligence.

Nwankwo said by this appointment, Retail Investors who are interested in the Federal Government Bond can now do so through the Secondary Market.

“Since 2003, we have been trying to develop the Sovereign Bond Market in Nigeria and we have been taking various steps to do that. Recently, JP Morgan included the Nigerian Bond Market in its index” he said.

According to the DG DMO, this shows that in their independent assessment, our Bonds Market is growing, though we still have some more challenges to deal with, but it is appreciated all over the world that we are doing the best to develop the Bond Market.

“What we have done by appointing Stanbic Stockbrokers as the FGN stockbroker is to ensure that the FGN bond is actively traded on the Stock Exchange. That will ensure that retail investors are mobilised to participate” he affirmed..

On her part Sola Davis-Borha, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, affirmed that the recent appointment of Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers  as Stockbroker to the Federal Government will translate to increased retail investors’ participation in both the Primary and Secondary Markets of Government Bonds and “ultimately help to deepen Nigeria’s Bond Market” she said.

David-Borha, further affirmed a major step towards attaining this goal was to specifically address the peculiar requirements of the retail segment, “part of which includes undertaking focused awareness campaigns” she said.

In early June 2012, Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO), on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), sought to engage the services of a Stockbroker to serve as the Government Stockbroker for Federal Government of Nigeria Securities (FGN Securities) listed (and to be listed) on The Nigerian Stock Exchange.

According to the DMO, the functions of the Government Stockbroker include, ensuring at all times that the FGN Securities included in the NSE’s Official List are accurate.

Also, the Stockbroker would engender and facilitate trading in FGN Securities on the Exchange; especially by retail investors by providing Bid and Ask Prices on the Exchange and acting as a Buyer and Seller of last resort where transaction counterparties are not available for trades.

Other functions of the Government Stockbroker are submitting reports to the DMO as may be required of activities in FGN Securities on the Exchange, acting as a liaison between the DMO, NSE, other Stockbrokers and any relevant stakeholder as may be required from time to time, as mandated by the DMO.