The Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), a critical infrastructure for the Nigerian capital market, has unveiled its innovative Custodian Portal, a digital platform designed to revolutionize custodian operations and bolster market efficiency. This portal signifies a substantial stride in CSCS’s ongoing digital transformation strategy, aimed at enhancing transparency, accessibility, and efficiency within the Nigerian capital market. By providing custodians with a centralized platform to manage their crucial processes in real-time, the portal marks a significant advancement in the automation and digitization of market operations. The successful onboarding of all custodians operating within the Nigerian capital market onto the portal underscores CSCS’s commitment to fostering collaboration, standardizing operational procedures, and driving digital adoption across the market.
The Custodian Portal offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline various aspects of custodian operations. These tools empower custodians with enhanced capabilities for portfolio and trade management, document tracking, share transfer operations, client symbol search, and real-time access to vital data. The portal’s features encompass portfolio viewing and downloading in various formats (PDF and Excel), tracking of stock movements across specified date ranges, secure inbox messaging and request tracking, and robust user management functionalities, including role assignment and status tracking. This streamlined approach promotes operational efficiency by providing custodians with a single point of access to manage their activities, replacing the need for multiple disparate systems and manual processes.
The development of the Custodian Portal exemplifies CSCS’s commitment to driving innovation and leveraging technology to streamline back-office functions. This initiative aligns with the broader objective of fostering a more agile and data-driven capital market ecosystem. By automating crucial processes and providing real-time access to information, the portal empowers custodians to make informed decisions, optimize their operations, and contribute to the overall efficiency and stability of the Nigerian capital market. This move towards a more digitized and automated market infrastructure reflects CSCS’s proactive approach to adapting to evolving industry trends and meeting the growing demands of market participants.
CSCS’s leadership emphasizes the strategic importance of this digital transformation. Haruna Jalo-Waziri, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of CSCS Plc, highlights the role of digital transformation in the organization’s strategy to enhance the Nigerian capital market. The Custodian Portal is positioned as a key achievement in this ongoing transformation, offering custodians a cutting-edge platform to manage their operations effectively. Furthermore, he reiterates CSCS’s commitment to continuously developing the platform to meet the evolving needs of users and align with emerging industry trends. This highlights the dynamic nature of the platform and CSCS’s dedication to providing a solution that remains relevant and valuable to its users in the long term.
Tobe Nnadozie, the Divisional Head of Business Technology and Digital Innovation at CSCS Plc, provides further insight into the technical aspects of the Custodian Portal. The portal is not just a standalone platform but integrates seamlessly into a broader omnichannel platform for custodians, encompassing API services. This integration facilitates enhanced connectivity and interoperability, enabling custodians to leverage multiple channels for accessing and managing their information. The portal is also connected to a market-wide workflow system developed by CSCS, ensuring secure communication and approvals across all key stakeholders in the market. This robust workflow system strengthens the overall integrity and security of market operations. Moreover, the platform incorporates top-tier cybersecurity solutions and integrates with CSCS’s Security Operations Center (SOC) to ensure the highest levels of data protection and security.
The successful onboarding of all custodians in the Nigerian capital market onto the Custodian Portal marks a substantial milestone in CSCS’s broader strategic objectives. This achievement signifies not only the widespread adoption of the platform but also reinforces CSCS’s commitment to promoting collaboration, standardizing operational processes, and driving digital transformation across the entire market. The Custodian Portal is poised to play a vital role in shaping the future of the Nigerian capital market by empowering custodians with the tools and capabilities needed to operate efficiently in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. This initiative strengthens the foundation for a more robust, transparent, and accessible capital market in Nigeria.
