By Benjamin Ameh
Mounir Gwarzo, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, speaking at 2015 Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN), said on our part at the SEC, we will continue to ensure that these platforms are optimally regulated so, that they can continue adding value to investors.
The 2015CAMCAN workshop theme, “Effective Reporting of Changes in the Nigerian Capital Market held in Lagos at the weekend.
Gwarzo said “I understand you (CAMCAN) have chosen to focus specifically on the changes brought about, within the last two years, with the commencement of operation of 2 over-the-counter (OTC) platforms, the FMDQ and the NASDAQ. This is commendable as indeed these two platforms are transforming the way the capital markets are perceived in Nigeria,” he noted.
Mounir Gwarzo, Director General, the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC
DG affirmed that “the level of liquidity and price of unlisted securities in Nigeria has been greatly enhanced by the operation of these two important platforms. I am glad that you have invited their MDs to relate directly with you on the nature of their operations and the remarkable impact they are already having on the capital market landscape. I will therefore leave them to handle that aspect and talk briefly about the fundamental change currently happening in our market thanks to the master plan.”
In his word: As you are aware, the SEC is currently leading the capital market in implementing the 10-year Master plan for the growth and development of our market. It is our main agenda for the market and we dedicated this week to tracking the level of implementation of the master plan as well as launching some of the major initiatives that have been concluded in the plan. We held the last CMC meeting for 2015 on Wednesday during which we were able to track the remarkable progress made in the emendation of key master plan initiatives including.
SEC Boss listed some steps took so far; Recapitalisation exercise to strengthen market institutions, Dematerialisation of share certificates which has reached unprecedented level of over 85% with 100% in sight before the year ends, E-Dividend with excellent collaboration from CBN and NIBSS, Direct Cash Settlement also leveraging the BVN database and Deepening Non-interest capital market through regional workshops targeting potential issuers.
Other steps are: Robust Public enlightenment campaigns,
Zero tolerance posture that is reducing the level of infractions in the market and Strengthening capacity of the SEC to serve as a more effective apex regulator and become the depository of capital market knowledge in Nigeria
Following the fruitful CMC meeting, Gwarzo said “we had the pleasure of hosting key government functionaries, capital market operators, leadership of listed companies as well as shareholders at an event during which we launched 3 import at Master Plan initiatives:
Unveiling the SEC Corporate Governance Scorecard: this brings about a new era in corporate governance compliance as we have made specific rules that make compliance with the SEC Code of corporate governance mandatory. The scorecard was launched by Chief Olusegun Osunkeye. Launching of the National Investor Protection Fund (NIPF) and inauguration of its board,
The former Minister of Finance as well as National Planning, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman launched the scheme and inaugurated the board of the fund as well as its verification committee.
Inauguration of Capital Market Master Plan Implementation Council (CAMMIC): this was a major step towards the master plan implementation as we have in this council distinguished and highly respected Nigerians who will lead advocacy efforts to various master plan initiatives.”
These are major changes that are happening within the market and a lot more changes is on the way as we continue to faithfully implement the master plan. Our expectations that you will be actively involved, continually build your capacity to effectively report to Nigerians on these changes, he noted.
