NSE Leads Shift To New Era On Financial Inclusion.

GBOLABO AFUWAPE

Africa’s leading stock platform, the Nigerian stock Exchange (NSE) has told stockbroking firms, investors, stakeholders and businessmen in the country to prepare for disruption by information technology and artificial intelligence.

The NSE at its annual event, Market Data workshop 2018 titled “digitalization, disruption and financial inclusion”on Friday stressed the need for stockbroking firms, business outfit and all individuals in the Nigerian business eco-system to integrate the use of info-tech as a tool to open-up to the possibilities of investing, expanding and exploding.

The NSE in line with its strategic goals, used the event to critically discuss the use of market data as an enabler for key drivers of emerging technologies in transforming the core of the capital market infrastructure.

Chief executive officer, NSE, Oscar Onyema, highlighted the importance of the theme in modern day Business operation and stated that digitalization is fast gaining momentum via purpose-built solutions that are currently being developed to reduce redundancies, cut costs and increase efficiencies for greater transparency and optimal returns.

“Many global investment banks and buy side firms are investing in artificial intelligence to aid with pattern recognition, with the goal of deriving alpha-generating insights”.

He cited the examples of Goldman Sachs’ investment in Kensho and UBS and Deutsche Bank’s investment in Sqreem as well NASDAQ when In 2015, unveiled the use of its Nasdaq Linq blockchain ledger technology to successfully complete and record private securities transactions.

The Acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mary Uduak said that the commission has the stage ready for digitalization for massive financial inclusion.

She advised firms to go beyond usage of tools that are only useful for smart phone users as they only make up about 28 percent of mobile phone users allover the nation, hence the need for ways to include the 72 percent that are not smart phone servy