To further boost liquidity and deepen the domestic debt market, Fidelity Bank Plc has listed N30bn bond on FMDQ OTC to boost Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) financing.
This follows the listing of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc (NMRC) ₦8b series 1, 15-Year fixed rate bond under a ₦140,000,000,000.00 Medium-Term Note Programme on FMDQ platform.
The Managing Director of the bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, explained that the N30 billion 7-year unsecured bond due 2022 at 16.48 per cent would also serve as tier 11 capital for the bank.
According to him, the bond issuance and listing exercise would enable the bank fulfill its promise to increase SME lending to 50 per cent by 2017.Continuing, Okonkwo said that the bond would enable the bank to fund increased lending to small businesses and retail clients, adding that the bank had earmarked 80 per cent of the bond proceeds for SMEs financing.
In his own words: “Some of them has transited from just trading or doing small business to longer term business like manufacturing and some of them now need machineries and long term finance.
“We don’t want to be financing big SMEs with short-term finance because of strategic decision we have taken to deepen and support the sector. We recognise the strategic importance of SMEs, particularly as it relates to diversifying the nation’s monolithic economy”, Okonkwo added
Pointing the way forward,the managing director stressed that the bank was strengthening ties with established and emerging entrepreneurs to deepen the burgeoning market, adding that FMDQ had empowered the Nigerian debt capital with price discovery, transparency and market integrity.
“Following our successful experiences with FMDQ, we decided to list the Fidelity Bank Bond on FMDQ platform, to be a part of the bond market revolution in Nigeria.
” By virtue of this listing, the bank is offering greater value to its esteemed shareholders and investors by improving liquidity, visibility and transparency of transactions,” he stated.
Responding to the development, FMDQ Managing Director, Bola Onadele, said that the listing would deepen the nation’s capital market.
Onadele said that bonds listed and admitted on FMDQ would be traded by Fixed Income Specialists who would act as market makers to these bonds thus providing trading liquidity to the bond.
“FMDQ provides a platform for the registration, listing, quotation and trading of bonds and other fixed income securities,” said Onadele.
