By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-MeriTrade online portal can offer investors in the Nigerian capital market (NCM) an opportunity to trade in shares of quoted companies with as low as 50,000 naira.
Oluwole Abegunde, managing director (MD) of Meristem Securities Limited said investors can buy and sell shares of companies listed on the Nigerian bourse with as low as 50,000 naira online.
The MeriTrade portal is an online stock broking platform provided by Meristem. Investors can also monitor their investment accounts through the use of this portal from their comfort homes, offices or anywhere in world using their mobile devices such as phones, tablets and laptops.
Apart from these Abegunde said investors through the MeriTrade platform can fill and submit account opening forms online, have access to their account online 24 hours a day (24/7), fund their accounts through designated banks or through their internet banking platform, make withdrawal requests from their stock broking account online amongst others.
In his opening remark at the launch of the product, Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer (CEO) of the NSE said on April 20, 2011 during the Nigerian-South Africa Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfast forum, his management led team shared a vision on how to move the Nigerian bourse forward to be the leading Stock Exchange in the African region for capital formation, driven by Transparency, innovation, Efficiency and Liquidity.
‘’We confirmed that we shall adopt global best practices that will increase efficiency, improve transparency and drive operational excellence. We also made it clear that our strategy for developing and protecting the Nigerian capital market would be driven by collaboration with market participants. My presence here today is to further demonstrate that we are focused on the strategic declaration made in 2011 and we have been guided by same till date,’’ Onyema said.
The NSE CEO affirmed that the Exchange supports innovations such as MeriTrade officially launched today by Meistem Securities Limited.
‘’Just a little under a year ago (June 2013), while discussing The NSE’s transformation strategy, we reiterated the fact that 21st Century Technology Strategies was a key part of the “five pillars” for growth -along with targeted Business Development, Strong Regulation, appropriate Investor Protection Strategies and growth enabling Market Structure,’’ he said.
According to Onyema, while the Nigeria’s exchange focus from 2011 to 2013 has been on restructuring, improving technology, product development and advocacy for changes to policy, in 2014, they determined to shift gears to drive innovationscentred on increasing global visibility into the Nigerian capital market, developing a larger footprint on the continent and ultimately, targeting emerging market status.
Onyema further affirmed his management’s belief that these steps are critical to the Nigerian bourse becoming the foremost securities exchange on the continent.
‘’One of the strategic drivers of our 2014 -2016 objectives is to transform our market operators. Technology, process and human capital will be the hallmarks of this capital market operator transformation,’’ he said.
He said the MeriTrade platform has been demonstrated as one that provides speed, accessibility and robustness of technology systems…all critical success factors of modern trading where key industry trends embrace mobile/e-trading and new technology-enabled trading models amongst other realities.
‘’We have been working towards increasing the retail investor base with intent of reaching out, even to the rural areas. Anticipatorily, Meristem’s MeriTrade should contribute substantially to the realisation of this intent,’’ the NSE CEO said.
At the launch of the MeriTrade, Meristem also unveiled its MeriBoss an online stock broking platform that allows portfolio and asset managers dealing in equities and bonds to manage their clients holdings online.
Another product unveiled was the MeriFix a direct market access link to Nigerian bourse.
