The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confirmed that the adoption of the T+1 settlement cycle in Nigeria’s capital market is progressing seamlessly, describing the development as a major boost to the market’s competitiveness and a source of relief for investors.
The Director-General of the SEC, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, made this known in an interview with journalists in Abuja at the weekend. Represented by the Director, Registration, Exchanges and Market Infrastructure, Mrs. Hafsat Rufai, Agama said both local and international investors have expressed satisfaction with the new settlement cycle.
“Feedback from them has been excellent. They are happy with T+1, and the local investors are also happy with T+1. The fear initially was around the availability of cash to settle, time zone being one of the major considerations,” she said.
She explained that in some countries, when Nigeria’s market closes at 4:00 p.m., it is still early in the day or even midnight elsewhere, raising concerns about how investors could source funds for settlement. However, with the settlement deadline set for 5:00 p.m. the next day, custodian banks representing investors have sufficient time to arrange the required funds and settle both securities and cash in the delivery-versus-payment (DVP) market.
Agama said no default had so far been recorded due to the unavailability of funds for settlement under the new deadline.
“It’s just a matter of letting everybody understand that the settlement time is not 8:00 a.m.; it is 5:00 p.m. And by 5:00 p.m., everybody is good. So far, it has been good. Feedback has also been very excellent,” he added.
According to him, the Nigerian capital market operated on a T+3 settlement cycle for several years before beginning a phased transition aimed at modernising the market, improving competitiveness and attractiveness, increasing liquidity and reducing settlement risks.
The market moved from T+3 to T+2 on November 28, 2025, before migrating to T+1 on June 1, 2026.
“Transaction day or the trade day when your shares are bought or sold on a particular day, that is day T, and then plus one, which is the current settlement cycle, means that when you buy your shares, say for instance you buy today, being a Monday, the shares will settle in your account by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow,” he explained.
Agama said the reduction in the settlement cycle was aimed at making the Nigerian market more efficient by allowing investors to receive their securities or cash sooner.
He noted that under the previous T+3 or T+2 cycles, settlement occurred at 8:00 a.m. on the settlement day. This meant investors had to wait up to 48 hours or more after a trade to receive their securities or cash.
“Now we decided that we need to do better for the Nigerian market by shortening that cycle. So why buy today and wait for another 48 hours or thereabout, or two days, before you get your security? So, we shortened that transaction cycle, or settlement cycle, I beg pardon, to T+1, meaning that the trade day and a day after, that’s the first step,” Agama said.
The SEC DG further disclosed that the market also shifted the settlement deadline from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. following the extension of trading hours on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. earlier this year.
“If you recall, we extended trading hours earlier this year from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. at the NGX, and then we thought, if market closes at 4:00 and we ask people to settle, that is, to provide cash and securities, at 8:00 a.m. the next day, that kind of close to being T+0 is almost as good as just telling me to pay today, and we don’t want that strain,” he said.