Right in lockstep with the ongoing economic development and democratic push in Africa, the Nigerian stock exchange plans to list five exchange traded funds in 2013. This is a breakthrough trend that various emerging economies, such as China and Vietnam, have caught.
“They don’t see the need to look outside their own markets for capital growth because these markets are still growing and there is a pool of IPOs and corporate bond issuance yet to come to the market,” Lydia Malakis explains on FTSE Global Markets.
Chief executive officer Oscar Onyema announced that the Nigerian Bourse is listing the five ETFs in an effort to increase the number and type of products available to local investors, report Emele Onu and Ambrose Akor for Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The Lagos-based exchange will start a corporate governance index this year, which will “capture top companies” and encourage others to list, Onyema said. [Sharing Africa’s Growth with ETFs]
Small- and mid-cap companies are encouraged to list as well, as regulations for the Alternative Securities Market will be reviewed this year. The Nigerian Bourse is the second-largest stock market in Africa, after South Africa’s. The Nigerian stock exchange has gained 18% in 2013.