The CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema, has said that market commentators estimate the value of total spending on all financial market data, analysis and news at about $28.5 billion; while the potential market size of financial information is valued at $50 billion.
Speaking at the Market Data Workshop on Wednesday in Lagos, Onyema noted that
that there is a global increase in the general consumption and spending on Financial Market Data and Market data analytics, stretching beyond the market data typically provided by stock exchanges for equity trading.
“Despite the evolving needs of consumers demanding for financial information globally, Nigeria still has low inclination towards investments, according to a research by FSDH, which reported the savings ratio in Nigeria as one of the lowest among selected countries, including China, India, Kenya, Malaysia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and USA. The ratio of mutual fund assets to Nigeria’s GDP is also very low at less than 1%, despite the growth of mutual funds in the country in recent times,” he said.
He noted that one major reason for this low retail investment appetite is the inadequate knowledge of investment products and the benefits for retail investors.
According to him, this underscores the importance of creating product offerings that promote diversity in investment, manage risk and make the information readily available to consumers.
He disclosed that Stock Exchanges and Data vendors are already responding to this increasing demand using new tools for market data products.
“At the Nigerian Stock Exchange we believe in customer centricity and we continue to foster partnerships with local stakeholders across the market, incorporating new technologies and expertise to drive market data by-products like derivatives and other structured products such as the Exchange Traded Funds.
“These structured products which are based on the accuracy of the underlying stock prices are being used by a broader set of professional users than those who participate on the stock exchange directly – to advise, monitor and/or validate transactions after they are executed,” he said.
He assured that the Market Data Workshop underpins the need for the analysis of data to make it available in a format that is as disaggregated as possible in order to be easily consumed for investment purposes.
According to Onyema, the Nigerian bourse is in a privileged position to benefit from its broad relationships with market participants to drive the delivery of its strategy, while its focus on innovative and disruptive solutions is built around its market data.
“We are innovating with “smart channels” that can deliver on-demand data to investors – including USSD, Mobile Apps, SMS and IVR,” he said.
GIK/APA