By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Central Securities Clearing Systems Limited (CSCS), United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank), Access Bank Plc and Sterling Bank Plc have signed a pact on over-the- counter market.

The banks were appointed by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) on Monday, June 10, 2013 to act as clearing and depository for NASD trades and are scheduled to commence of operations in July this year.

According to a statement from UBA and made available to InvestAdvocate, the objective of the NASD Limited is to facilitate the secondary market trading of all non-quoted securities in the West African region and also in the process stimulate capital market growth.

The statement said “The company brings together issuers, investors, accredited dealers, stockbrokers, banks, central clearing systems, private equity and venture capital firms and depositories with a view to increasing liquidity in the non-quoted segment of the long term funding market.”

The NASD is approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to operate an over-the-counter (OTC) in Nigeria, which investors in unlisted companies can trade their securities.