NASD OTC Exchange PLC has began preparations to unveil innovative products that will unlock investment opportunities in the real estate sector and cooperative societies.
This is part of the company’s many relentless and inspiring efforts to deepen the Nigerian financial market.
Speaking recently at the weekend, Managing Director, NASD OTC Exchange Plc, Eguarekhide Longe, revealed that the leading OTC exchange is presently awaiting regulatory approvals to launch the new products.
He announced that the new products will go a long way towards unlocking value in untapped areas of the Nigerian financial services sector, while also broadening the Nigerian capital market.
According to him, because NASD is completely focused on being innovative, it is important for the company to keep launching products that will affect the country’s real estate sector positively.
“NASD is focused on origination. To this extent we are driven by the need to be extremely innovative and propelled to drive inclusion of new business area.
We are going to conclude the delivery of a few novel products which we have applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval.
As a hint, these products will touch upon the real estate and the much-untapped Nigerian cooperative societies. We see 2025 closing with a strong performance, if not stronger than 2024,” he said.
He further noted that despite the underwhelming operating environment last year, the Exchange still displayed resilience and recorded major growth.
Longe highlighted how the NASD Securities Index (NSI) increased by 223.75 per cent to 3,002.68 points in December 2024, from 927.77 points in December 2023. He stated that while the market capitalisation dropped by 18.12 per cent, trading activities rose significantly by 127.31 per cent, with the value of trades also increasing strongly by 176.72 per cent.
He then confirmed that the 2nd quarter of the year has started with a very positive month of April, announcing that the company maintained the business trajectory established in the first quarter of 2025.
“Our market is an incubator for start-ups. This explains why despite the delisting of some large cap stocks like Aradel, which constituted about 79 per cent on our trading value last year, we started on a strong note this year as our operating profit for first quarter 2025 hit N164.0 million, compared to a loss position of N44.1 million in first quarter 2024. Furthermore, our unaudited profit for the period was N212.5 million, as against a loss of N32.7 million in the preceding year.
We realise the only way to grow most things is to build them. Economic development is about building things; whether it be brick and mortar construction, agriculture processing zones, the steel and foundries that are the bedrock of industrialization, the logistics to move people around logically, and the social imperatives like education and healthcare. This is what NASD’s mission is to develop in the Nigerian capital market. We are also mindful of the fact that Nigeria requires a new tribe of investors.
We see the CBN launch of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) as an invitation to a borderless Nigerian capital market, which we will promote and take virtuous advantage of to match liquidity with the content that we will be putting through our market,” he added.
