ORDER BASED TWO-WAY QUOTE (OB2WQ) FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET STANDARDS
Following the recent developments in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) Market, there has been a need to temporarily redefine the standards by which the market will operate. In response to a number of queries received, the revised standards for the FX market are itemised below:
- Dealing Members (DMs) shall indicate their interest via Bid and Offer quotes stating the volumes at which they are willing to buy and sell
- Bid-Offer spreads shall not be standardised
- Bid-Offer volumes shall also not be standardised and shall be solely based on customer demands
- The OB2WQ system shall not preclude DMs from giving one-way quotes
- DMs can only sell funds purchased from customers (e.g. oil companies) in the interbank market
- The buyer in an inter-bank transaction (trade between two DMs) must be buying based on customer demands. Such funds cannot be resold to other DMs
- DMs shall be required to provide documentary evidence of the orders made by their customers
- To enhance price discovery and transparency in the inter- bank foreign exchange market, it shall be mandatory for DMs to voice report and confirm all trades on Thomson Reuters Dealing 3000 as soon as the trades are consummated to provide the necessary input into the Thomson Reuters ‘NGN=DMT’ price discovery screen and the Deal Tracker Analyser
- DMs must henceforth, ensure that ALL FX trades are confirmed at trade time
Note: DMs are allowed to only give quotes backed by orders. If they do not have orders they are allowed to decline providing quotes to other Dealers - Press Release
