The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), says it will sanction stakeholders whose actions are frustrating its efforts toward reducing the volume of unclaimed dividends.
The Director-General of SEC, Lamido Yuguda, said this at a post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) press conference in Abuja on Friday.
Yuguda pointed out that despite SEC’s efforts in ensuring the Electronic Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS), investors have continued to lament the delay in the payment of their e-dividends.
According to him, a lot of investors had yet to mandate their accounts to be able to receive their dividends, adding that unclaimed dividends as of 2021 stood at N177 billion, which was higher than the 2020 figure of N168 billion.
The Director-General said, “Capital market operators must also do more to demonstrate through their activities, an efficient capital market system that prioritises the interest of investors.
“As part of our efforts to stem the tide of activities of unregistered crowdfunding platforms, the commission warned the operators of these platforms that they stand the chance of being prosecuted”.
He also said that the commission had obtained donor funding to acquire and deploy securities market surveillance system, noting that the surveillance system will improve the commission’s regulatory and supervisory capabilities, over securities trading activities.
He said added that the commission would continue to engage the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to deepen the commodities ecosystem, as the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning on the request for tax exemption for corporate bonds.
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