Kakawa Discount House is one of the five operational discount houses in Nigeria which serves as government financial tools and acts as a middle access points between all other banks in Nigeria and the Apex bank of Nigeria, The Central Bank of Nigeria. As with all discount houses trade in Governments bonds and treasury bills are the primary business functions. Kakawa Discount House has been acquired by FBNQuest, the brand name of the Merchant Banking and Asset Management businesses of FBN Holdings Plc. It commenced merchant banking operations on 2 November 2015 and is now known as FBN Merchant Bank Limited.
History
The Discount Houses sub-sector of the Nigerian financial services industry was birthed in 1995 and came as an offspring of the federal government of Nigeria through the Central bank of Nigeria. Discount Houses became the venue through which banks were able to channel excess liquidity and access same to and from the CBN. A secondary market was created through the discount houses particularly for the trading of Treasury bills and other commercial bills. The name Kakawa is gotten from the street in which the headquarters of their single largest shareholder is located. The shareholders are: First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Guaranty Trust bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank, Skye Bank, Unity Bank.
Today
Kakawa has evolved from being primarily a mono-product institution into being the pioneer for the marketing of Treasury bills to individual investors through the introduction of its proprietary the Treasury Bill Backed Investment product in 1997. In 1998, Corporate Finance was identified and it established an advisory services unit. Kakawa Asset Management Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary licensed to act as fund managers.
Kakawa Asset Management
Kakawa Asset Management was incorporated in 2004, prior to its incorporation, KAM had operated as a department of Kakawa since 2001. KAM was primarily established out of the need to provide clients who had worked with Kakawa overtime, with longer term investment options in the financial services market. KAM is registered with the securities & Exchange commission as a portfolio/fund manager and Investment Adviser.
