The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, First City Monument Bank Plc, Mr. Ladi Balogun has urged more companies to list their shares on the stock exchange.
Balogun made this call while presenting his bank‘s, ”Fact behind Figures” on the floor of the NSE in Lagos on Wednesday.
The managing director pointed out that as more investors become aware of the returns on investment and stability of the Nigerian stock market, international interest would heighten.
”Therefore, we shall see the market getting more robust and well managed quoted companies would continue to do well. If you look at the billions of dollars that come into Nigeria, in my view today, there still few listed companies and entrepreneurs who are driving businesses for the amount of money that come into the market.
”That is why I would encourage firms not listed to consider doing so to benefit from the investment flow into the country,” Balogun said.
According to him, the fundamentals that were driving the economy were still very strong and were being propelled by the banking sector.
He added, ”We have recently seen a rise in the monetary policy rate, we have seen that inflation is coming under some pressure and we have seen that the government will continue to make sure that the exchange rate remains strong.
”Naturally, now that most banks are very liquid, when interest rate rises, banking net interest margin are supposed to rise. We believe the interest rate would remain fairly high in the foreseeable future. We also expect that the naira would continue to appreciate, to about N110 to the dollar, by the end of this calendar year.”
He disclosed that his bank was in the final stage of receiving regulatory approval for a 25 per cent investment in one of the pension funds administrators in the country.
Balogun also revealed that his bank would soon inaugurate a pan African Hedge Fund with an international hedge fund manager, based in the United States.
He explained, ”The fund would invest 60 per cent of its fund in Africa and about 40 per cent in the Middle East. For transaction banking technology alone, we are investing over N700m in technology, to launch a new platform for transaction banking in October 2008.”–punch
