Graham Penn advises major stakeholders on unlocking credit potential in the Nigerian economy

Graham Penn, Professor of International Finance Law at UCL Laws, has returned from a trip to Nigeria where he has been advising on expanding the availability of credit in Nigeria’s economy from a legal and regulatory perspective.

Professor Penn visited Lagos and Abuja as part of an ongoing pro bono initiative with government-related stakeholders in Nigeria – including the Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria, National Pension Commission (PenCom) and Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria – to increase the capacity of banks to provide debt finance to the Nigerian ‘real economy’.

The initiative includes a specific focus on the availability of credit to finance the development of much-needed infrastructure in the areas of transportation, energy, water supply and telecommunications. It also extends to the ability of banks to finance the real economy by accessing funds from wider parts of the economy, including the pensions industry, insurance sector, and the growing private credit sector.

As part of this ongoing initiative, Professor Penn has worked closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria – the government agency responsible for regulating and developing the capital market – on rules that will enable the listing of asset-backed securities on the regulated Nigerian securities market. These rules have recently been introduced and PenCom has made the required changes to its investment rules permitting Nigerian pension funds to invest in such securities.

The banking sector, via the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), is lobbying the Central Bank of Nigeria to change the regulatory framework, and Professor Penn has been supporting this process for some time. In 2024 he delivered the prestigious CIBN annual lecture, exploring the legal and regulatory challenges involved in ensuring that funding is diversified, and calling for a collaborative approach to solutions.

During his recent trip, Professor Penn appeared on the Global Business Report for Arise News – the Nigerian world news channel – to speak about the latest developments in these areas and recommendations for unlocking the full credit potential of Nigeria’s economy. He covered: legal frameworks for secure lending; liquidity, risk management, and financial inclusion; and the role of banks, legal professionals and policymakers. The report was picked up by other networks, providing even wider coverage of the drive for financial reform and innovation across domestic and international markets.

Professor Penn said: “It is very rewarding to be collaborating with major stakeholders in Nigeria’s government, banking, pensions and insurance sectors on such important legal and regulatory matters. By unlocking the availability of credit, these initiatives have the potential to transform the entire economy.” 

Professor Penn has decades of experience at the intersection of law and finance, and is regularly involved in initiatives that drive important change in these areas. During his entire legal career, which spans more than three decades, he has worked in both academe and private practice, the latter in his capacity as former co-head of the Global Finance practice at Sidley Austin LLP (one of the world’s leading international law firms), where he was recognised as a “world-leading practitioner in capital markets, structured finance and securitisation” and was involved “in some of the most groundbreaking transactions of the past two decades”.

Professor Penn has been at the forefront of UCL’s LLM programme in Corporate and Finance Law for almost 35 years and is currently playing a leading role in the development of the exciting new MSc Law and Finance programme, which will launch later this year.

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Photos: Professor Graham Penn on Arise TV (top, right); National Bank of Nigeria, Abuja (bottom, by Gabriel Ogulu)