FMDQ Turnover Hits N551.23 Trillion in Nine Months as FX and OMO Bills Take 64%

FMDQ turnover reached N551.23 trillion in the first nine months of 2026, according to the FMDQ Exchange market turnover report for January to September, as summarised by Nairametrics analyst Kelechi Mgboji. At FMDQ's average rate of N1,367.68 to the dollar, that is roughly $403 billion of trades on Nigeria's main fixed income and currency market.

Two instruments did most of the work. Foreign exchange and the Central Bank of Nigeria's open market operation (OMO) bills together accounted for N354.22 trillion, or 64.26% of everything traded.

The headline number is large, and it is easy to misread. It is the value of transactions, counted each time an instrument changes hands. It is not new money entering the economy, and it is not a measure of fresh investment.

How FMDQ turnover split by market

The report breaks the N551.23 trillion into the following segments:

• Foreign exchange: N190.80 trillion, or 34.61% of the total
• OMO bills: N163.42 trillion, or 29.65%
• Repos and open repos: N75.60 trillion, or 13.71%
• FGN bonds: N46.67 trillion
• Treasury bills: N45.74 trillion
• FX derivatives: N24.91 trillion, or 4.52%
• Unsecured placements and takings: N2.71 trillion
• Eurobonds: N1.01 trillion
• Sukuk: N380.42 billion

FX, OMO bills and repos together made up 77.97% of the market. Add FX derivatives to spot and forward FX and currency-related trading comes to N215.71 trillion, or 39.13%.

Spread across 182 business days, average daily turnover was N3.03 trillion, about $2.22 billion. The FX segment alone averaged N1.05 trillion a day, OMO bills N897.92 billion, repos N415.36 billion, FGN bonds N256.41 billion and Treasury bills N251.32 billion.

Why OMO bills dwarf Treasury bills

The most striking ratio in the report is between OMO bills and the government's own short-term paper. OMO turnover was about 3.57 times Treasury bill turnover and roughly 3.5 times FGN bond turnover.

OMO bills are issued by the CBN to absorb naira liquidity from the banking system. When the central bank leans on them heavily, it usually signals a tight monetary stance aimed at supporting the naira and cooling inflation. High secondary trading in these bills shows how central they have become to bank treasury desks and to foreign portfolio investors who buy short-dated naira paper.

Nairametrics cautions that OMO turnover measures trading value, not the stock of bills outstanding or the amount of liquidity the CBN actually withdrew. A single bill can be bought and sold many times before it matures, and each trade adds to turnover.

What September added

The January to August cumulative figure, from Nairametrics' previous report, was N496.61 trillion. That implies September turnover of about N54.6 trillion, though FMDQ can revise earlier data.

Between the two cumulative reports, FX turnover rose by about N19.4 trillion and OMO turnover by about N16.5 trillion. Bank-client FX turnover in September was about $10.80 billion, with spot deals making up 94.77%. The busiest week was the one ended September 11, at $3.39 billion.

Three banks, 42.7% of the market

Trading is concentrated in a small group of dealers. Stanbic IBTC Bank ranked first among dealing members, followed by First Bank of Nigeria and Coronation Merchant Bank.

• The top ten banks handled N415.85 trillion, or 75.44% of total turnover.
• The top three alone handled N235.55 trillion, or 42.73% of the market and 56.64% of the top-ten total.
• The other seven banks in the top ten handled about N180.30 trillion.
• Every bank outside the top ten combined handled about N135.38 trillion, or 24.56%.

The report does not give individual figures for each of the top three, or the instruments behind their rankings.

What it means for investors and businesses

For investors, the numbers confirm where liquidity sits in Nigeria's market. FX and OMO bills are the deepest pools, which means prices there respond quickly to CBN decisions. Longer-dated FGN bonds trade far less, so large orders can move yields more. Readers following the bond market can compare this with the most recent FGN bond auction, where the DMO sold N1.21 trillion.

For businesses that need dollars, a large FX turnover figure does not by itself mean easier access. The naira recently posted its sharpest daily fall in 18 months, a reminder that heavy trading and price stability are different things.

For policymakers, the dominance of OMO bills raises a familiar question. Heavy reliance on central bank paper keeps liquidity tight and supports the currency, but it also competes with government borrowing and can crowd out lending to the real economy.

What to watch next

The fourth-quarter numbers will show whether the CBN keeps leaning on OMO auctions as it manages the naira, and whether FX turnover holds up as oil prices move. Concentration among the top dealing banks is also worth tracking: if it rises further, liquidity across the market depends more heavily on a few balance sheets.

FMDQ publishes its turnover reports monthly. Market Pulse Africa will update these figures as the October data are released.