Nigerian Stock Exchange using Nasdaq surveillance platform

Officials at the American stock exchange Nasdaq, the second-largest exchange in the world, recently provided its SMARTS Marketing Surveillance platform to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to improve NSE's compliance program.

Putting SMARTS into place will allow NSE to better track possible incidents of market manipulation, spoofing and layering. Tony Sio, head of SMARTS, said Nasdaq was optimistic about its new partnership at NSE.

“NSE has a tremendous growth potential, and as the volumes and products expand, the sophistication and impact of manipulative practices could also increase," Sio said. "By detecting activities, such as spoofing and layering as soon as they occur, the exchange is signaling to the market how seriously it is in promoting a fair market.”

SMARTS has been used by Nasdaq for more than two decades and provides real-time surveillance capabilities. Presently, 52 exchanges and regulators use SMARTS.

"This development affirms our continuous commitment to protecting investors by creating a fair and orderly market," Tinuade Awe, NSE's general counsel and head of regulation, said. "As we introduce new asset classes to grow our market, the deployment of a robust, integrated and efficient solution to monitor the increasing complexity of trading activities is imperative. Regulatory and compliance issues continue to be a primary focus in our quest to become Africa’s foremost securities exchange and we are pleased to be leveraging Nasdaq’s global leadership in the development of capital market surveillance systems.”