Those sabotaging efforts to reduce N177bn unclaimed dividends to face stiff penalties – SEC

Lamido Yuguda, the Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the weekend warned that stiff penalties await stakeholders frustrating the Commission’s efforts to reduce the volume of unclaimed dividends in the country.

Yuguda’s warning was contained in a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists by Efe Ebelo, the Commission ‘s Head, Corporate Communications, after the end of the Capital Market Committee Meeting held in Abuja.

The SEC boss, who stated that unclaimed dividends as at the end of 2021 was N177 billion moving from N168 billion in 2020, urged all stakeholders to continue to work towards reducing the volume of unclaimed dividends and reiterated that ‘stiff penalties will be meted out to any stakeholder whose action appears to frustrate the efforts of the Commission on this objective’.

“The Commission reiterated its commitment to continue to strive and fulfil its mandate of protecting investors and creating an enabling environment for market operations. The DG urged all stakeholders to continue to work towards reducing the volume of unclaimed dividends and reiterated that stiff penalties will be meted out to any stakeholder whose action appears to frustrate the efforts of the Commission on this objective” he said.

According to the SEC boss, in spite of the Commission’s efforts in the implementation of the Electronic Dividend Mandate Management System (eDMMS), investors have continued to lament the delayed payments of e-dividend and the cumbersome manual process among other shortcomings.

He lamented that large number of investors are also still unaware of the eDMMS and have not mandated their accounts, stressing that

Commission will however continue to create awareness in this regard, urging Capital market operators do more to demonstrate, through their activities, an efficient capital market that prioritizes the interests of investors.

Yuguda said that as part of our efforts to stem the tide of fraudulent activities of unregistered investment crowdfunding platforms, the Commission warned the operators of such platforms that they stand the risk of being prosecuted.

According to him, the Commission has an existing regulatory framework that permits private companies with the required structure and mechanism to raise capital from the public through crowdfunding, stressing that all crowdfunding platforms must register with the Commission.

“On Monday, June 27, the Capital Market Master Plan Implementation Council (CAMMIC) submitted the revised Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan (2021 -2025) to the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning. The Commission will be launching the revised Master Plan at the next CMC meeting in November 2022.

“The Commission has obtained donor funding towards acquiring and deploying a securities market surveillance system.

“The deployment of the surveillance solution will improve the Commission’s regulatory and supervisory capabilities over securities trading activities and help modernize the local capital markets, ensure market integrity and transparency across all trading platforms, and boost investor confidence. All of these will bode well for the capital market and support its growth.

“The CMC meeting also received updates on efforts at developing the Commodities Trading Ecosystem, especially on the ongoing engagement with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, regarding modalities for holding a workshop with important stakeholders including select mining companies.

“The Workshop is aimed at bringing together key stakeholders in the Capital Market such as Issuing Houses and Fund Managers to interact with the mining companies on benefits and ways of raising capital through the Capital Market.

“The market was informed that the Commission is working out modalities to organize a forum of prospective Collateral Managers to apprise them of the opportunities in this sector and registration procedures with SEC”.

(Independent)