NASD OTC Targets 300 Unlisted Securities to Trade in OTC Market

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NASD Plc, Mr. Bola Ajomale

The NASD Plc, the operators of the over-the-counter (OTC) capital market for unlisted public companies, is eying 300 public limited companies to be trading on the platform.

NASD Plc has been promoting the secondary market trading of all securities of unquoted public companies in Nigeria since 2013.

In an interview with THISDAY recently in Lagos, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NASD Plc, Mr. Bola Ajomale said efforts are being made to ensure that over 300 public companies that are yet to have their shares traded on the OTC platform are made to do so.

According to him, various strategies are being adopted to achieve the listing of these shares so that the companies and their shareholders would enjoy the benefits of patronising NASD Plc.

Ajomale explained that since the platform began operations it has been providing benefits to various stakeholders in the OTC market unlike before.

“Our coming has boosted investor confidence by providing transparency in trading of unlisted securities, protecting investors from unregistered middlemen, providing information on liquidity around unlisted securities and improving investor/shareholder relations,” he said.

The NASD Plc boss disclosed that 63 per cent of the already listed securities on the platform are profit making, assuring the rest which are may be not be doing well due to the challenging operating environment are making efforts to recover from their poor performance.

Besides attracting more unlisted securities, NASD Plc also sees the harnessing of private equity and venture capital deals as a means through of boosting volume and turnover in OTC market.

“We have set up our committee, and we are looking at how we can build the private equity market. We want to be the hub for crowd funding. It is another huge market, and rather than leave it to players outside, we want to bring it into the capital market”, Ajomale said.

According to him, there are currently no rules anywhere in the world that caters to crowd funding.

“But Nigeria is probably one of the first countries in the world that will come up with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-regulated rules for crowd funding, and have one established market for crowd funding,” he stated.