The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have signed an agreement for a grant on market surveillance system project.

The grant valued at $460,000, is to finance technical assistance and capacity building for capital markets development under the Nigeria Securities Market Surveillance System Project.

Director-General, AfDB Group, Mr. Lamin Barrow, who spoke during the signing, explained that the grant from the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund (CMDTF) – a multi-donor trust fund administered by the bank-and supported by the Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Cooperation of the Netherlands, will support the acquisition, installation and deployment of a real-time automated securities market surveillance system of the capital markets.

Barrow said: “Today’s ceremony marks yet another important milestone in our partnership and efforts to modernize Nigeria’s capital markets and ensure that it is well positioned to support economic transformation driven by private sector investment.

“The introduction of a surveillance system will enhance oversight over securities trading across all existing and future trading platforms and all tradable securities and products by the SEC. It will therefore preserve securities market integrity, boost investor confidence and enhance financial inclusion, among other expected outcomes.”