The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that it will take full control of trading and settlement in the fixed income market. The directive, issued on October 3, 2025, says that starting November 3, 2025, settlement of fixed income instruments will move from the current market-run system to the CBN’s internal system.
This step is not entirely new, as the CBN has taken similar actions before, such as introducing the B-Match platform to manage trading and settlement in the foreign exchange market. It has also updated rules on minimum capital for banks and revised regulations in the securities market including the Commercial paper.
This move is part of a bigger plan to centralise oversight of the sovereign debt market, which is the main channel for liquidity management, interest rate signals, and other macroeconomic policies. It also addresses issues like market fragmentation, inconsistent pricing, and limited visibility over secondary market flows.