The Nation Newspaper

Tag: regulatory approval

  • Lagos Commodities Exchange gets regulatory approval

    The Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE) has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), paving the way for the new Exchange to commence operation in the months ahead.

    The LCFE is being promoted by the Lagos State Government and Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON). The LCFE is expected to trade in currency, commodities, oil and gas and solid minerals and it is expected to open up a vast new vista for Nigerian agricultural and economic development.

    With this “approval in principle”, the new Exchange is expected to commence operation immediately,  after the ongoing installation of its state of the art technology which is at the concluding phase.

    Commenting on the recent development, ASHON’s Chairman, Chief Patrick Ezeagu expressed gratitude to SEC for the opportunity. He assured the commission that ASHON had been working very hard to complete the installation of the technology in order to commence trading.

    Corroborating him, LCFE’s Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Akin Akeredolu-Ale described the approval as a welcome development.

    According to him, it shows the level of dynamic capacity of the apex regulator to empower capital market operators to play pivotal role in capital formation and wealth creation. Akeredolu-Ale underscored the essence of capacity building in order to improve efficiency and service delivery.

    He explained that the trading floor of the new corporate office of LCFE at Niger House, Broad Street, Lagos was already wearing a new look as trading technologies, including control room and servers are being installed.

    There are strong indications that  capital market professionals, including the capital market correspondents shall undergo a new phase of strategic training model by the LCFE as part of the preparations to go

    Chief Ezeagu had at a training session last year explained that the core objective was to develop the much-needed capacity that would  operate in the coming Commodity and Futures Exchange which ASHON is leading the establishment.

    Ezeagu noted that every aspect of the capital market had been undergoing changes, hence , the human capital that would operate in the new environment must have the skills and competittwncowa

    “The market is expanding and  the various kinds of market we are operating  are equally changing as           well.  From the purely equities market,  we are moving into bonds and from bonds we are thinking about commodities and Derivatives.  There is lack of capacity by members of ASHON and we have decided upon ourselves that the best approach is to build capacity from within. We must key into these changes that are taking place to play our role as intermediaries within the market space. Therefore, this training which  focuses on derivatives and commodities is to ensure that we sharpen the skills of our members to trade derivatives as well as commodities, futures, options and the rest of them,” Ezeagu said.

    Corroborating Ezeagu, one of ASHON’s technical partners, Mr Subbiah Rajagopa of Chella Private Limited explained that  as ASHON would soon commence a specialised exchange, it is necessary to expose its members to the rudiments of Commodity and Derivatives market.

  • Sovereign Trust Insurance gets regulatory approval to raise N2.09b

    Authorities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have given the nod to Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc to proceed with its new capital raising exercise. Sovereign Trust Insurance is seeking to raise N2.09 billion from existing shareholders as the insurance company seeks to beef up its capital base to place it in better stead for large-ticket transactions.

    A circular obtained yesterday by The Nation indicated that the Quotation Committee of the Exchange has approved the N2.085 billion rights issue, paving the way for the insurance company to round off the pre-offer process and open acceptance list for the rights issue.

    Under the rights issue, Sovereign Trust will issue 4.17 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at offer price of 50 per share. As rights, the new shares to be issued have been pre-allotted on the basis of one new share for every two ordinary shares held as at the close of business on  January 15, 2019.

    Shareholders of Sovereign Trust had recently approved a new capital raising plan for the insurance company, on the heels of the cancelled tier-based minimum solvency capital policy proposed by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

    Shareholders authorised the board of the company to create 5.0 billion new ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to increase its authorised share capital to N10 billion of 20.0 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.  Shareholders also approved the proposal to raise “additional equity capital for the company up to the maximum of the authorised share capital” with additional mandate to the board to absorb excess money in the event of oversubscription of the initial offer.

    Under its capital raising plan, Sovereign Trust could raise funds by issuing new shares to existing shareholders, new general retail investors, existing and new strategic investors or a combination of many means of capital raising.

    While NAICOM has cancelled the new tier-based capitalisation programme, market analysts believed that many insurance companies that had launched emergency capital raising plans may go ahead with their plans as proactive measures. Many analysts expected a considerable consolidation of the Nigerian insurance sector, with capitalisation as a major benchmark.

     

  • Lagos Commodities Exchange awaits regulatory approval

    The Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE) has concluded arrangements to launch its operations as soon as it receives regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    Its Acting Managing Director, Mr. Akin Akeredolu-Ale, said the company was awaiting regulatory approval to begin its operations.

    According to him, there would be immediate activation of trading and people will be able to trade through remote access.

    He said there would be a well-structured and transparent approach to price discovery of various commodities and refinancing mechanism that will create better returns on investment.

    The application followed the successful completion of the capital raising exercise for the Exchange. The LCFE is expected to trade in currency, commodities, oil and gas and solid minerals and it is expected to open up a vast new vista for Nigerian agricultural and economic development.

    The LCFE had recently concluded a successful private placement to raise N500 million initial capital. It had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which will serve as the depository, clearing and settlement house for the new Exchange.

    ASHON had also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to deploy its trading on the platform of the NSE.

    “The NSE has strong capacity for trading in equities, derivatives and commodities. The CSCS, which is tightly coupled with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, will enable seamless and smooth operations of the LCFE, “ Akeredolu-Ale said.

    According to him, the NSE has a platform that is globally competitive and up to date as the NSE maintains global international standards and certifications.

    “Therefore, instead of re-inventing the wheels and deploying resources to setting up a new platform, we have decided to engage the Nigerian Stock Exchange as our technical and technological partners. What it does for us is that it collapsed the moratorium period of almost two years it would have been required of us to set-up a system and then set-up a platform and we would have spent millions of dollars in setting up this platform. This MoU is saving us that volume of resources and what this does for us is that the LCFE would be able to hit the ground running,” Akeredolu-Ale said.

     

  • UBA London subsidiary gets regulatory approval

    United Bank for Africa (UBA Plc) yesterday announced that its London subsidiary has obtained regulatory permission to carry out wholesale banking services in the United Kingdom.

    The approval licence was granted to the lender by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), a United Kingdom financial services regulatory body.

    The move makes UBA the only Sub-Saharan African bank to conduct banking activities in New York and London, as well as in 20 other countries across Africa.

    Speaking on the feat, the Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Plc, Kennedy Uzoka said: “This authorisation strengthens our capabilities in meeting the growing cross-border financing needs of our customers. It enhances our customer coverage and product offerings whilst positioning our group as an optimal conduit for trade and foreign investments into and across Africa as well as export flows to the United Kingdom. Importantly, the licence will enable us to fulfill our aspiration of deepening financial intermediation in Sub-Saharan Africa and providing the much-needed financial support to the broader real sector of the African economy,” he added.

    Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of United Bank for Africa (UK) Limited, Andrew Martin, noted further, “this enhanced positioning of our business is timely, as it comes at a time when the UK is seeking to expand trade and broaden economic ties with Nigeria and Africa in general.”

    As part of the transformation process, resulting from the authorization, the current name of UBA Capital (Europe) Ltd will change to United Bank for Africa (UK) Limited. In addition to a full suite of treasury services, cash management, corporate lending and wholesale deposit offerings to professional and eligible counterparties, the operations of United Bank for Africa (UK) Limited now extends to all aspects of trade finance; issuance, acceptance, confirmation and refinancing of Letters of Credit of different variations, including SBLCs.

    UBA Plc is a leading Pan- African financial institution, offering banking services to more than fourteen million customers, across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 19 African countries. UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa with presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France.