NSE shuts trading floors, adopts remote trading

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) says its trading floors would be closed temporarily from Tuesday, March 24.

In a statement released on Monday, Oscar Onyema, NSE chief executive officer, said the bourse would engage in remote trading during the period.

He said the decision was necessary due to recent developments in the country.

“With the significant growth in new cases, effective March 24, we have activated a 30-day remote working plan for our employees excluding essential staff,” he said.

“In order to give our dealing members enough notice, effective March 25, all our trading floors will be temporarily closed, although remote trading will continue and NSE staff will be available through all our digital platforms to provide support.

“Dealing members are, therefore, encouraged to continue to trade remotely via our electronic platforms such as FIX protocol and XNET, and reach out to their compliance officer if any support is required.”

“As an exchange, we will ensure that all relevant information continues to flow into the market to ensure the pricing of risk assets remains transparent and reliable across asset classes to allow investors to value their portfolios and make informed investment decisions under these volatile conditions.

“You should continue to submit all regulatory filings via Issuers’ Portal (X-Issuer).”

The exchange also said there would be no sanctions for companies that are unable to file their audited financial statement.

Godstime Iwenekhai, head of NSE listings regulation department, said the 60-day extension of the regulatory deadline for submission of results was in recognition of the fact that some of the internal governance, auditing and other procedures and processes of listed companies may have been disrupted by Covid-19.