In a bid to hasten the recovery of the Nigerian stock market, the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria has started lobbying stakeholders to agree on a plan that will ensure the survival of the nations capital market.The association said that it was also working towards constantly engaging key policymakers in the economy on ways to ensure that policies did not affect the market negatively.According to the group, the move becomes imperative in view of the impact the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria have had on the operations of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It said the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Finance Ministry were being focused in the discourse on the capital market."We have also worked consistently in supporting other trade groups, most notably, the brokerage community, in lobbying for the acceptance of a strategy to fast track market recovery and long-term sustainability in the market," the Chairman AIHN, Mr. Bolaji Balogun, said in a statement on the groups recent Annual General Meeting in Lagos.He noted that the group was also partnering with the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers to promote market initiatives, such as full dematerialisation, demutualisation and restructuring of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.He expressed the hope that that the full dematerialisation of the stock market would take off in December 2012, barring any unforeseen circumstances.According to him, the association will be implementing, within the next few months, discussions with SEC and other key policymakers on fixed income, mergers and acquisitions.Also, Balogun said AIHN had entered into discussions with regulators in the capital and financial markets on ways to reduce the huge debt burden on capital market operators.He stressed that significant progress had been made in the deliberations, noting that in a few weeks, the regulators would make definitive pronouncements geared towards addressing the huge debt burden borne by capital market operators. "Some of our initiatives scheduled for this year include working with the government, regulators and other stakeholders to get capital market issues on the front burner. We are delighted with the support we have received from the CBN, SEC, NSE, the Debt Management Office, and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria," he said.The statement said the association recorded total expenditure of N23.029m compared to N19.408m of 2009, while it recorded a surplus of N100.732m transferred to accumulated fund, in contrast to N5.792m in 2009. The associations financial account for the year ended December 31, 2010 showed that it recorded members subscriptions of N22.6m, in contrast to N22.8m recorded in 2009.
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