Nigeria’s securities regulator has published draft CFD and forex trading rules that flip the European model on its head. The Securities and Exchange Commission released the framework on September 1st under the Investments and Securities Act 2025, drawing sharp criticism from London’s trading industry despite containing several progressive elements.
The proposed rules require negative balance protection, mandatory position close-outs at fifty percent margin, client fund segregation with Nigerian central bank-licensed institutions, and strict marketing bans including prohibitions on influencers and lifestyle-based advertising. However, the framework permits retail leverage up to four hundred times on major currency pairs, three hundred times on minors and commodities, and one thousand times for professional clients, vastly exceeding European Union limits of thirty times.
This contrasts sharply with ESMA’s restrictive product approach combined with lower capital requirements. Comments on the draft are due within two weeks, leaving narrow opportunity for industry response affecting Nigeria’s retail trading market structure.
FXnCO Insight
Firms eyeing Nigerian market entry should prepare feedback immediately on leverage limits while capital requirements remain under consultation, as the window closes rapidly.
Source: Finance Magnates