The Discount Houses subsector of the Nigerian financial services industry commenced as a brainchild of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the early 1990's. Discount Houses were established to bring sanity to an otherwise traumatized banking sector. Discount Houses therefore became the conduit through which banks were able to channel excess liquidity and access same to and from the CBN. The Discount Houses created a secondary market particularly for the trading of Treasury bills and other commercial bills.
The regulations permitted the establishment of Discount Houses by a consortia of acceptable and sound financial institutions in order to ensure financial strength and stability.
It was therefore the coming together of eight financial institutions championed by the First Bank of Nigeria Plc. (FBN) that gave birth to Kakawa Discount House Limited (Kakawa) in 1995. Currently (as at 2009), there are five Discount Houses in Nigeria .
Over time and with the dynamism that exists in the Nigerian financial services sector, the guidelines for Discount House activities have evolved and are now more broad-based. As a result, Kakawa has also metamorphosed into an organization with a carefully designed array of financial services positioned to delight its customers.
We have evolved from being an essentially mono-product institution into being the pioneer for the marketing of Treasury bills to individual investors through the introduction of our proprietary product, the Treasury Bill Backed Investment (TBBI) in 1997.
In 1998, as the institution continued in its typical proactive approach to business opportunities, the Corporate Finance market was identified and we established an advisory services unit, thus promoting growth for our customers by increasing value through pertinent financial advice.