Banking and investment executives link confidence in Nigeria’s outlook to policy continuity, institutional capacity and functioning financial markets

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s emphasis on institutional capacity and policy continuity featured prominently at an investor forum in Beijing, where participants discussed the foundations supporting confidence in Nigeria’s financial stability.

The discussion brought together policymakers, banking executives, payment providers and Chinese investors to examine how Nigeria’s stronger financial conditions could support sustained investment and economic activity.

Banking executive Kayode Solola of Standard Bank Group pointed to the depth of the team Governor Olayemi Cardoso had assembled as an important source of credibility.

He said investors engaging with Nigeria encountered officials capable of explaining the policy framework consistently, giving them a basis for assessing its durability beyond individual officeholders.

Solola argued that investors could price interest-rate and exchange-rate risks. Their longer-term decisions also depended on confidence that established policies would endure.

“It’s continuity of policies, continuity of what has been established. So it’s not based on one man. It’s actually based on an institution,” he said.

Dr Okey Umeano, Deputy Director, Financial Markets at the CBN, said the Bank was reinforcing its policy framework with financial-market infrastructure intended to support its continued operation.

He linked confidence in Nigeria’s outlook to improvements in the functioning of the foreign-exchange market and investors’ ability to bring funds into the country and repatriate them.

“The investor wants to know that four years, five years, ten years from now, everything is in place to make it continue to work,” Umeano said.

Samuel Tao of the China-Africa Fund for Industrial Cooperation offered a complementary investor perspective. He acknowledged Nigeria’s progress and identified macroeconomic stability, predictable rules and confidence in capital repatriation as important considerations for foreign financial institutions.

The panel, moderated by Peter Poon of ICBC Standard Bank, also examined the payment and technology infrastructure supporting financial activity between Nigeria and China.

Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola described how greater exchange-rate predictability was helping businesses plan cross-border transactions. Huawei representative Chen Liu discussed the potential contribution of payment modernisation, fraud prevention and financial technology.

Across the discussion, participants connected the sustainability of Nigeria’s stability gains with the institutions and systems supporting them. Solola called for further entrenchment of policy continuity, while Umeano described the CBN’s work to build the market infrastructure that investors need for decisions extending several years into the future.