In a bid to improve market participation and transparency as well as facilitate informed investment decision making, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has launched an innovative webpage integrated with key market data, corporate news and disclosures for corporate issuers.
The Investor Relations (IR) Data Pack is designed to reduce the burden on issuers by providing them with an intuitive investor relations webpage, which could easily be integrated with their existing corporate websites, NSE’s Head of Corporate Communications, Olumide Orojimi, explained.
The Data Pack, which was created with “an easy-to-use, secure, and customizable interface to boost access and adoption, is hosted in the cloud and features enhanced interactive functionalities with 99.5 percent uptime.”
According to NSE’s Head of Trading Business, Jude Chiemeka, the IR Data Pack is a necessary tool required by issuers to improve their engagement with investors. “It is a tool that will enhance their communication and outreach strategy to investors, analysts and other stakeholders,” Chiemeka said.
Essentially, the IR program will see the NSE provide value-added service to issuers and make their daily market statistics available to investors in real-time. The goal is to bridge the information gap between the Exchange and market participants, based on the fact that the stock market thrives on information. Chiemeka added that the delivery of the IR Data Pack and associated services is an essential building block in The Exchange’s strategy.
On his part, NSE Chief Executive Officer, Oscar Onyema, noted that with adequate exposure to capital market information through the IR Data Pack, issuers can now drive a more robust market interaction on their corporate websites and potentially position themselves to attract more investors.
The significance of the NSE’s latest innovation finds credence in the fact that accurate and timely information is key in making investment decisions. But despite its importance, necessary market and economic data in Nigeria (and Africa at large) are either not produced on time, are not frequently produced, are of poor quality or are not accurate.
The paucity of accurate, reliable and timely data has been a recurring issue in every aspect of economic activity in Nigeria. This makes it difficult for key stakeholders to make data-driven decisions, hence the need for innovations such as the NSE’s IR Data Pack.
Onyema further stated that the Nigerian bourse is committed to “building a market that thrives on innovation” and will “continuously adopt new technologies in providing customer-oriented solutions to make financial services more inclusive, whilst providing a superior customer experience in accessing and using capital.”
