SEC declares war against illegal capital market operators

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has declared war against illegal capital market operators in the country.

The Director-General of SEC, Dr Lamido Yuguda said the commission would further strengthen its enforcement regime and ensure that erring market operators were duly penalised to protect investors.

He revealed this at the first Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting in 2020 while restating the commission’s needed to restore investor confidence in the market.

According to him, “The commission recognises that a fair, transparent and orderly market, with a sound regulatory framework, can promote trust and restore this confidence.

“In turn, this improves the credibility of the capital market necessary to attract retail, institutional and foreign participants.

“We will also be focusing on the investor experience, seeking to make it easier for the investor to understand and access the market.”

The SEC boss said that the commission would pay attention to issues around e-dividend and the quantum of unclaimed dividends in the market.

“To this end, we shall be paying attention to issues around e-dividend and the quantum of unclaimed dividends we have.

“We believe that to make retail investors return to the market, their concerns must be addressed.

“Market conduct must also be improved, and bad behaviour rooted out,” he said.

Speaking on ways to deepen the market, he said the commission would focus on non-interest issuance to attract more capital.

“We have seen how successful Sovereign Sukuk issues have been, and wonder why we are yet to have sub-national and corporate issues.

“We must end the barriers and remove them, as this will help deepen the market and attract more capital into it,” Yuguda said.

He assured that the commission would continue to engage with agencies and other key stakeholders on issues such as favourable tax regimes, margin loans, investor data and identity management, among others.

Yuguda said COVID-19 pandemic had underscored the importance of technology to product and process development, cost-cutting measures in general operations and regulatory efficiency.

“It is therefore important that we introduce innovation to our activities both as operators and regulators.

“The commission, on its part, has resolved to improve its efficiency, maintain best-practice standards and make better use of technology.

“We will also examine our processes with the aim of removing bottlenecks wherever they may be”, he said.