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NASD Plc, the OTC market for all unlisted securities, said it has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to float an Investor Protection Fund (IPF) at the end of the first quarter (Q1) of the year.
Bola Ajomale, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NASD Plc, disclosed this at the virtual 2020 market review of the Exchange, saying that operators in the market are expected to provide the take-off fund for the IPF.
He stated that the funds are expected to be ready before the end of March, 2021, adding that operators who fail to contribute to the IPF would be restricted from the market.
Ajomale stated that the Exchange launched VentureRamp portal for donor-based crowd funding following the release of crowd funding rules by the SEC in January this year. He added that the Exchange would launch an investment-based crowd funding by the end of Q1’21.
According to him, the Exchange is planning rules to guide transactions in commercial papers, while the new market is expected to open in Q2’21. On digital currencies trading, he said that NASD is anticipating the release of regulation for crypt tokens and will, possibly, open a portal to that effect in Q3.
Reviewing activities in the previous year, he said that despite the disruptions to economic activities caused by the Covid-19, the market capitalization rose by 4.9 percent to N525.94 billion from ¦ 501.14 billion, while the NASD Securities Index, which opened at 697.54 points, rose 6.29 percent to close at 733 points.
Also, year-on-year (Y/Y) value traded increased by 21.08 percent to N12.68 billion, while volume traded witnessed a significant increase of 195.23 percent to 7.93 billion units.
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