For Stock exchanges globally, the recovery is digital. Today’s stock exchanges should innovatively leverage data to hyper-personalize the value they offer to ecosystem partners, embracing the potential of platforms and bespoke digital infrastructures to become evolutionary attuned to the changing needs of their divergent market stakeholders. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are driving the morphing world of exchanges. Both technologies are delivering a richer client experience, predicting market trends or enabling sophisticated market surveillance.

This means that stock exchanges can now have a faster, smarter and smart monitoring capabilities as a result, securing and maintaining our market integrity.

A recent survey conducted for the World Economic Forum (2020) has shown that a large majority of players in finance worldwide (85%) already use some form of AI and a large group (65%) expects to become an adopter of AI for mass financial operations. A joint survey of the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, 2019) shows that most financial firms are currently building the infrastructure to deploy large-scale AI, with 80% already using AI in some form.

In the race to bring efficiency into Nigerian Exchange Group (ngxgroup.com), it is critical we exploit AI as an efficiency-enhancing technology. Understanding that AI is helpful in front-office activities that directly involve financial service customers (e.g., User Utilization Platform using Social Media APIs- investment management, and payment systems) as well as back-office activities (e.g., capital optimisation, risk management, and market analysis).

For user Utilization platform, Virtual assistants or chatbots are assisting customers to interact and operate with their financial institutions smoothly, even to extent substituting human interaction. Chatbots, in particular, are ML algorithms relying on NLP that provide financial service users with updated information, solicited but also they are also a relevant source of additional data for AI systems, thanks to their direct interactions with customers.

A fraud palaver

Sadly, anti-money laundering has proven difficult in tackling because of scanty data available to train ML algorithms to detect illegal activities. That’s changing. There are successful applications of AI algorithms (in particular artificial neural networks (ANN), support vector machines, and random forests) that outperform classical logistic regression models (traditional models), at least when training data contains a relatively high frequency of illegal activities. With this, ML helps predict fraud by managers, for example, stock market manipulations. Totally, AI can significantly improve financial market integrity and strengthen trust, a vital ingredient of the financial sector.

Innovations in the regtech space means that NGX can standardized information collection into prespecified templates that financial institutions can populate over time with automated routines and that supervisors could access through befittingly designed API interfaces. A machine-readable regulatory handbook could enable NGX’s clients to interpret and execute regulations automatically.

However, The ascent of AI has led to the possibility to design ”screening algorithms” that systematically and continuously monitor financial markets identifying risks and manipulations, with a better balance between false positive and false negative than humans. The Netherlands Bank, for example, uses automated analysis of orders and executions of banks to identify funds transferred to the same recipients via different routes in high-risk jurisdictions.

NGX’s collaboration with other Monetary jurisdictions could open new possibilities. “AI screens” helps detect misconduct and frauds in stock markets. It works like this, unsupervised AI algorithms scan markets looking for general patterns. Once anomalous patterns are flagged out, supervised ML algorithms step in to predict actual risks.

Financialization of market

Emerging technologies have enabled the financial markets to becoming more international and integrated. That’s because technology and related organisational innovations are driving these changes; making stock exchanges to be technologically competitive through economy of scale or by redefining markets as seen by international consolidation of the securities exchanges business. This has led to the integration of settlements systems across national boundaries powered by the diffusion of ICT innovations in different areas of global and local economies.

A Retail revolution

In our post-pandemic world, our economic recovery will be digital and it demands bold leadership to dive into a digital future. We saw it with the arrival of bitcoin in 2008 and that same year the US Fed reinvented QE. it is time for NGX to lead us into the future: a borderless, tamperproof, and inflation resistant age. Stock exchanges are being upended by this paradigm shift. We are witnessing a seismic shift in the architecture of financial settlements as trading floors get connected to bitcoin and Ether/ERC20 nodes. The future is rapidly happening before our eyes. NGX would need a response to these seismic changes.

Hidden behind Bitcoin, looms large the boom in Decentralized Finance, payment/settlement networks outside our banking system powered by smart contracts on the Ethereum network. We have seen its staggering growth, from Nov 2020 to now, these networks have grown, staked and traded assets from less than $2b to $43b+ bolstered by rise in institutional staking (buying and holding) and trading of derivatives (unusually CME and Binance). Platforms such as Maker, Aave, Compound and Uniswap pay interest to stakers and settle trades and coupons.

AI is reshaping retailing as traders globally have joined the stock and crypto party in large population in an unprecedented manner. This is also aided by social influencers and Youtube and Reddit, with enormous impact. Day trading is the new social media network and apps are open 24/7, enabling rich interactions-trade, chat, post and trade.

We should see DF as “investible” disruptions. We believe DeFi revolution has a more structural and measurable disruptive potential for Nigeria’s financial industry. Smart contracts built on public blockchains like Ethereum, have the potential to push NGX, our clearing houses, and all forms of financial instrument trading into the realm of instant settlement bringing dramatically lower costs to our financial services industry. But regulatory-policy innovations will have to meet DeFi in a way that advances our collective prosperity.

In all, for NGX, the key focus should be to drive Africa’s digital revolution. More importantly, it must explore AI-enabled reporting metrics that relate to our talent, culture, ESG, supply chains, cyber-attacks, and eerily- data breaches. Leveraging exponential technologies in it NGX’s reporting around deepening liquidity measures and its green credentials will strengthen NGX, making her an attractive partner for visionaries in investible disruptions.

Nations rise when pioneering entrepreneurs emerge. Without those pioneers, the capacity to combine factors of production to redesign economic structures and fix market frictions stall. As America begins to debate the SPACE Tax Act structured to make sure billionaires and millionaires who sojourn to space pay taxes for the experiences, it becomes evident that America has created another sector. 

Before the American steel industry, Carnegie had to emerge. Before the US energy sector, Rockefeller existed. From JP Morgan to BY Mellon, men were ahead of the government in setting the ordinance of  US banking.  And in this era, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson are unlocking the broad space tourism.

Space tourism, which in recent months has witnessed a frenzy as billionaire-enthusiasts take turns to fly miles above the earth’s surface, has unveiled a multi-billion dollar economy. From SpaceX to Blue Origin to Virgin Galactic, the space transport companies have seen burgeoning demands for their high cost seats by wannabe astronauts in what has been described as “billionaires’ luxury trips.”

But as budding space tourism takes shape, and more people show interest in experiencing the full force of gravity through orbital and suborbital space flights, the United States Congress is seeing an opportunity to make more revenue for the government.

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) plans to introduce legislation called the Securing Protections Against Carbon Emissions (SPACE) Tax Act, which would impose new excise taxes on space tourism trips. The exercise is targeted on commercial space flights carrying human passengers for purposes other than scientific research.

There is a lesson here:  Nigeria cannot have it the other way around: the government has never led anything and we cannot expect everything to be anchored by bureaucrats.

Like Nollywood, Nigeria’s movie industry, which emerged without any memo to the government, our pioneering innovators must do the same in other sectors. Sure, when you do it, they will come with a tax bill. And that is the beauty of it. By 2040, space tourism is projected to be a $1.1 trillion business. Yes, more tax revenue for America!

Africa needs PIONEERING entrepreneurs – they are the high priests to shared prosperity and future abundance in nations. They redesign economies and unlock latent opportunities, driving optimist exuberance for national political leaders because they expand economies and tax dollars.

They taught us in the economics class that companies have to specialize and build core competencies.  They need to do things really well and be the best possible in their chosen domains. But today, especially in native tech companies, we think that does not overly make sense as technology has changed the cost of entering into new domains.

For technology companies, everyone is doing everything, even at top-level. Alphabet, Google parent company, is a car company, a search company, a medical company, an advertising juggernaut, fintech, etc. Amazon.com is an e-commerce firm, a publisher, a movie producer, a drone maker, and pharmacy chain.

Today, what do you think IBM does? Practically everything when you know that Watson has more than 100 flavors focusing on health, finance, real estate, etc. So as frenemies era hits up, the entrenched mantra of core competency must be examined. 

The Eastman Kodak Company was an iconic industry leader. For decades, it was synonymous with photography. But it got stuck in its core competence of traditional film products and missed the rise of digital photography and printing. Uber got the message and has acquired Dallas-based Transplace from TPG Capital, the private-equity arm of investment firm TPG for $2.25 billion.  

People, build a technology stack and expand the stack into anything you want in future. Once the foundational stack is there, adding new things on top of it becomes easier and cost-efficient. That is what they are doing in Tencent, Alibaba, Alphabet, Facebook, etc and that seems to be the path into the future. 

In Africa, the banks, insurers, etc of the future will be technology companies which offer those services. They are the ones which will capture most value from the edges of the smiling curve. It could become easier now that the Central Bank of Nigeria is digitizing the Naira.

According to private sources, the pilot scheme will be launched on October 1st, 2021…The project name is tagged Project GIANT and it will use the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain.

Nigeria’s central bank further revealed that the importance of eNaira includes Macro management and growth, cross border trade facilitation, financial inclusion, monetary policy effectiveness, improved payment efficiency, revenue tax collection, remittance improvement, and targeted social intervention.

The Nigerian Apex Bank also underlined the benefits for the fintech ecosystem that include enhanced operational efficiency, opportunities for fintech start-ups in building services/products like financial inclusion that will contribute to the economic growth, and the creation of a new system complimenting the traditional payment system.

In a push to expand its logistics business, ride-hailing giant Uber has announced a new acquisition by its truck subsidiary, Uber Freight.

Uber reached an agreement to acquire Dallas-based Transplace from TPG Capital, the private-equity arm of investment firm TPG for $2.25 billion. Under the agreement, Uber will pay up to $750 million in common stock of Uber Freight’s parent company and the rest in cash to TPG Capital, according to regulatory filing.

Uber Freight is pushing a tech-enabled method of booking for truck owners, drivers and cargo owners. The digital booking has been successfully implemented by Nigerian-based startups, Kobo360 and Zido Logistics that offer trucking services around Africa. Uber hopes the acquisition will help it reach into the U.S., Canadian and Mexican domestic shipping sectors, its existing markets.

Uber Freight also sees the acquisition as a means to accelerate the company’s path to profitability and help the segment to break even on an Adjusted EBITDA basis by the end of 2022, according to the company.

The union will fold one of the largest managed transportation and logistics networks into Uber Freight’s platform, which connects truck drivers with shippers that need cargo delivered. Uber Freight’s brokerage will continue to operate independently from Transplace’s services, the company said.

Transplace CEO Frank McGuigan said as a result, the combined company expects shippers will see greater efficiency and transparency. “All in all, we expect to significantly reduce shipper and carrier empty miles to the benefit of highway and road infrastructures and the environment,” he said.

Uber Freight launched in 2017. In August 2018, it was spun off into a separate business unit, a move that simultaneously allowed it to gain momentum and burn more cash. After spinning off of Uber, the freight company underwent an expansion. Uber Freight redesigned its app, an improvement that included adding new navigation features to make searching for and filtering loads easier to customize.

The company expanded to Canada and Europe. Uber Freight also established a headquarters in Chicago as part of its parent company’s broader plan to invest more than $200 million annually in the region, including hiring hundreds of workers. Uber said in September 2019 it would hire 2,000 new employees in the region over the next three years; most would be dedicated to Uber Freight.

Freight provided $302 million in gross bookings of Uber’s overall revenue of $19.5 billion in gross bookings in the three months ending March 31.

Uber sold a stake in the freight business last year when an investor group led by New York-based investment firm Greenbriar Equity Group committed to invest $500 million in a Series A preferred stock financing for the business. The deal valued the unit at $3.3 billion on a post-money basis.

Uber maintained majority ownership in Uber Freight and used the funds gained from Greenbriar to continue to scale its logistics platform, which helps truck drivers connect with shipping companies.

Uber services came under the weight of pandemic-induced restrictions that paralyzed movement, plummeting its revenue.

The San-Francisco-based ridesharing company hopes the new acquisition will accelerate its push for expansion to new territories. But it faces strong competition from traditional middlemen that match freight loads to available trucks and from a lineup of tech-focused startups including Convoy and Transfix Inc.

Uber Freight head Lior Ron said in a statement the combination with Transplace would yield operational excellence.

“This is a significant step forward, not just for Uber Freight but for the entire logistics ecosystem. This is an opportunity to bring together complementary best-in-class technology solutions and operational excellence from two premier companies to create an industry-first shipper-to-carrier platform that will transform shippers’ entire supply chains, delivering operational resilience and reducing costs at a time when it matters most.”