FMDQ Resumes Admission of Commercial Paper Issuance

This followed the release of new rules on the issuance of financial instruments by the Nigerian capital regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“This Market Notice is issued as an update to MN-50 (Suspension of FMDQ Exchange’s Admission Services in the Nigerian CP Market), to notify all stakeholders of FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited (“FMDQ Exchange” or the “Exchange”) of the immediate resumption of the Exchange’s securities admission services in the Nigerian commercial paper (“CP”) market,” a statement on Friday said.

A commercial paper is short-term, unsecured promissory notes not backed by collaterals issued by companies to raise funds for immediate needs.

The SEC is now stepping in to ensure that there are some efficiencies in the issuance by approved bodies to avoid sharp practices and opacity.

The recent suspension applied to applications for which the filing of all relevant documentation has been completed, applications for which the filing of all relevant documentation is yet to be completed, as well as prospective and ongoing CP offers under active CP Programmes.

Now, FMDQ Exchange will immediately resume its securities admission services in the Nigerian CP market pending the finalisation of the ongoing engagements with the Commission on the operationalisation of the New Rule on the Issuance of Commercial Papers released by the market regulator.

The exchange also announced that it has returned to the status quo prior to the release of MN-50, and thus resumed the processing of new and ongoing applications in respect of prospective CP Programme registrations, revisions/extensions and issuances/quotations.

It added that it would provide relevant updates and further developments in respect of the above to market participants in due course.