The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

  • SEC assures foreign investors of dynamic and transparent market

    The Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) Nigeria, has assured foreign investors of the safety of their investments in the Nigerian capital Market.

    Disclosing this when representatives of JP Morgan and Stanbic IBTC visited the Commission in Abuja weekend, Ag. Director General of SEC, Ms. Mary Uduk said all necessary controls are in place to ensure that the market is dynamic, free, fair and transparent for participants.

    Uduk said the Commission has embarked on several initiatives in a bid to ensure that investors in the market derive the benefits therein.

    She said the implementation of the Capital Market Master Plan has led to significant changes in the market. Some of these implemented initiatives are dematerialization of share certificates, recapitalization of capital market operators, establishment of the National Investors Protection Fund and inauguration of its board, as well as launch of the Corporate Governance Scorecard.

    Others are implementation of the e-Dividend Mandate Management System, establishment of Complaint Management Framework, transaction cost reduction, implementation of the direct cash settlement and the introduction of non-interest capital market products.

    The Ag. DG disclosed that the Commission has put in place a robust investor protection machinery with severe sanctions on infractions of securities laws.

    “The implementation of this regime has led to the closure of various Ponzi schemes as well as the recovery of millions of naira belonging to innocent investors.

    “SEC champions zero tolerance on infractions and we have a range of sanctions depending on the level of infraction and how egregious the breach is, ranging from warnings, fines, suspensions, withdrawal of registrations and jail terms.

    “The idea is to improve transparency in the market and ensure that investors are safe”.

    On surveillance, Uduk said the Commission has surveillance mechanisms in place to detect possible suspicious trading/market manipulation activities.

    In his remarks, Nick Long, Representative of JP Morgan, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Nigerian capital market adding that it is one of the reasons why it continues to attract international investors.

  • Oando: Confusion trails NSE’s lifting, reversal of technical suspension

    The Nigerian Stock Exchange ( NSE ) on Wednesday lifted the technical suspension placed on Oando shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ), ordering a reversal three hours later.

    Confusion trailed the action of the exchange and SEC with market operators and shareholders calling on the Federal Government to intervene in the matter.

    The exchange, in a letter entitled: “Notification of Lifting of Technical Suspension on the Shares of Oando,” said SEC on April 9, directed it to lift the suspension.

    “We refer to our bulletins of 18, 20 and 23 October, 2017 regarding the directive of the SEC to the Nigerian Stock Exchange to place the shares of Oando Plc on Technical Suspension.

    “Please be informed that on April 9, 2018, the commission directed the Exchange to lift the technical suspension placed on the shares of Oando.

    “On receipt of the commission’s directive, the Exchange put the process in place to lift the technical suspension, including testing on its trading system.

    “Further to the commission’s directive of April 9, please be advised that effective today, April 11, 2018, the Exchange lifted the technical suspension placed on the shares of Oando.

    “Consequently, there is no longer any impediment to price movement in Oando shares.

    “The above is for your information and records update please,” said the Exchange.

    However, three hours after lifting the technical suspension on Oando’s shares, the suspension was reversed by the NSE.

    All efforts by our correspondent to get the reasons for the reversal proved abortive as the Corporate Communications Officers of both the NSE and SEC declined to pick their calls or respond to inquiries.

    Commenting on the issue, Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd. described both regulators’ actions as unprofessional.

    Omordion said SEC and NSE needed to correct the impression on time in order not to dampen investors’ confidence.

    “If this impression is not corrected, the confidence of the investing public in the regulators will start dwindling which will not be good for the market.

    The regulators are expected to have done their due diligence before giving any directive,” he said.

    Concerned Shareholders of Oando Plc had on April 10 urged the Federal Government to prevail on NSE and SEC to lift the technical suspension placed on the shares of the company without any further delay.

    The shareholders at a news briefing in Lagos said that the suspension of Oando’s shares was sending wrong signals to the global community about the seriousness of the Federal Government to attract investments to bolster the economy.

    NSE, on Oct.18, 2017, announced that it had placed the shares of Oando, a public quoted energy company trading on the floor of the NSE, on ‘full suspension for 48 hours.’

    The exchange, thereafter on Oct. 23, 2017, further announced that it had placed the shares of the company on ‘Technical Suspension.’

    The NSE informed the company that the suspension of its shares by the NSE was done in compliance with a directive issued to it by SEC.

    Mr Patrick Ajudua, Head, Concerned Shareholders of Oando, said that the continued suspension of the company’s shares could also send wrong signals about the prevailing operating environment in the country.

    Ajudua said the Federal Government should protect a prosperous company like Oando from going down if it wanted to demonstrate to the investing world its seriousness to attract investors to the country.

    “The continued suspension of Oando is a wrong signal to the global market about the prevailing harsh operating environment in Nigeria.

    “This is at variance with the Federal Government’s initiatives to diversify the economy through increased Foreign Direct Investment,” he said.

    NAN

  • SEC extends e-dividend registration deadline to March 3

    SEC extends e-dividend registration deadline to March 3

    The Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) has extended its free e-dividend registration deadline to March 31, our reporter learnt on Wednesday.

    A senior management staff in the commission, who pleaded anonymity made the disclosure in an interview with our reporter in Lagos.

    The official said that the deadline was extended in principle for the third time for the operators to clear their e-dividend backlogs.

    Our reporter ,  reports that e-dividend refers to online payment of dividends to investors rather than through post.

    The advantage of e-dividend is that it allows all accrued dividends to be credited to an investor’s bank account directly.

    The aim is to stem the rising problem of unclaimed dividends in the capital market.
    The source said that the main reason for the extension was to clear the backlogs and to work out details of how the parties involved in the exercise would get their share.

    Read Also: U.S Secretary of State to visit Nigeria, Kenya, three others

    The source said the parties involved in exercise were the registrars and the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, adding the appointed banks were currently working out the sharing formula for the registration fee.

    He said that the commission would not come publicly to announce another extension, noting that no investor would be charged for delay in the registration until April 1.

    The source said that low investors’ response to the exercise contributed to the commission’s decision to give room for enrolment of more investors.

    SEC in June, 2017 extended the underwriting cost of investors’ e-dividend registration to Dec. 31, 2017 against the earlier deadline of June 30, 2017.

    It also on Jan. 18 extended the deadline to Feb. 28, 2018, to encourage more shareholders’ participation in the scheme.

    NAN

  • SEC to resume forensic audit of Oando Plc

    SEC to resume forensic audit of Oando Plc

    Dr Abdul Zubair, Acting Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it will resume forensic audit to probe Oando Plc based on petitions received by the commission from shareholders of the company.

    He disclosed this during a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Zubair noted that a forensic audit was initiated in 2017, and preliminary investigation was carried out.

    He said that based on some of the findings from preliminary investigation, the commission took steps to preserve the shareholders value and protect the investing public.

    This, he said, led to the technical suspension of the shares of Oando Plc and the commencement of a forensic audit.

    He, however, said that the audit was suspended because of two lawsuits that were initiated to stop the process.

    “The two law suits were filed by Oando Plc and some shareholders of the company to restrain SEC and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from effecting a technical suspension on the shares of Oando.

    “The lawsuits were also intended to stop SEC from appointing a team of forensic auditors to conduct a forensic audit of the company,’’ he said.

    Zubair, however, said that Oando Plc. had withdrawn the pending lawsuit against the commission by an application heard and granted by the Court of Appeal on March 5, 2017.

    He also said that the application for withdrawal by the shareholders was heard and granted by the Federal High Court on Feb. 21.

    According to him, following the dismissal and the striking out of the two suits, SEC would be proceeding with the forensic audit.

    “Following the dismissal and striking out of the suits, SEC has duly informed the firm of Deloitte to proceed with the forensic audit.

    “The commission is committed to its primary mandate of protecting investors and will take all necessary steps to fulfill that mandate and uphold the integrity of the capital market,’’ Zubair added.

    He assured all stakeholders that following the removal of the legal impediments, the audit of Oando Plc, would proceed in a transparent and thorough manner.

    Zubair, however, did not give a time frame for the completion of the audit, but assured that it would be done in the shortest possible time.

    Zubair also assured that the commission would not interfere with the audit so that the outcome would be satisfactory.

    Read Also: SEC clears Deloitte to audit Oando

  • FG reduces exposure in domestic borrowing – DMO

    FG reduces exposure in domestic borrowing – DMO

    The Debt Management Office ( DMO ) says the Federal Government is reducing its exposure in the domestic market to pave way for borrowings by corporate entities.

    Ms Patience Oniha, the DMO’s Director-General, told newsmen in Lagos that government had reduced its exposure in the bond market for corporate entities to raise funds.

    “We are reducing the amount we borrowed in the domestic so that there will be space for corporate bodies,’’ the director-general said.

    She said apart from the government decision to reduce domestic borrowing, the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange ( NSE ) had issued new guidelines and reduced fees for people to borrow.

    Oniha said that apart from issues of infrastructure for trading in fixed income securities, the market regulators had done a lot of ground work to make the market attractive.

    She said DMO was a friend with all regulators, noting that they work in teams and groups to get to “where we are today’’.

    “We want to see varieties of products to be traded in the market apart from government bonds for people to have more varieties of products to trade on.

    “We are expecting development in the market; we want to see corporate bodies to raise bonds in the market for people to have more products to buy apart from the government bonds,’’ Oniha said.

    The director-general said that borrowing from the bond market would make books of corporate entities to be balanced instead of concentrating on banks’ loans.

    She said that the fixed income market had grown when compared with what we had 10 years ago.

    Oniha said that government expected the fixed income market to develop significantly long time ago.

    Read also: DMO to redeem N198b T-Bills

    The director-general had recently said the Federal Government would focus more on external borrowings to reduce debt servicing.

    She said that in order to go forward the debt office would concentrate more on external borrowings at cheaper rates.

    Oniha said that government had decided to borrow more externally to repay Treasury Bills ( TBs ) that mature every now and then.

    “Going forward as we do more borrowing based on the Appropriation Act, what can we do to make sure that debt servicing at least, if it does not come down, remains manageable.

    “We have decided to do more of external borrowings at cheaper rates,’’ Oniha said.

    NAN

  • SEC partners CBN, NIBBS to eliminate fraudulent investment outfits

    SEC partners CBN, NIBBS to eliminate fraudulent investment outfits

    The Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) on Wednesday said that the commission was partnering with other regulatory bodies to get rid of fraudulent investment outfits in the Nigerian capital market to boost investors’ confidence.

    Mr Mounir Gwarzo stated this at the 2017 World Savings Day and Financial Literacy Week held in Lagos.

    Gwarzo said that the commission was working with other regulatory bodies to combat proliferation of fraudulent investment outfit in the nation’s capital market.

    Gwarzo, who was represented by Mr Henry Rowland, Director Investment Services, SEC, stated that the commission was committed to ensure zero tolerance to fraudulent activities in the market.

    “We are partnering with CBN, NIBBS, PENCOM, CSCS and other regulatory bodies to combat the negative effect of fraudulent investment outfit in the market.”

    He, however, stressed the need for prospective investors to seek the help of financial advisers while investing in the capital market to confirm those financial outfits that were registered with the commission.

    According to him, these advisers would help ascertain the true position of any investment outfit before any financial transaction can be carried out.

    On the importance of savings, he said that savings played an important role in determining the one’s future and urged students and youths to embrace savings culture.

    Mrs Oluwatoyin Sanni, the Chairperson, Financial Literacy Committee, called on investors to ensure that the companies they want to buy shares from file returns and records of their performance, profitability and dividend payment on  quarterly basis.

    “Prospective investors must check the quality of board of companies, the directors, the profile of the chairman and other corporate governance issues relating to the firm.

    “Again, check the business model of the company you want to invest in, how does the business plan work, how does the plan translate to profit.

    Look at the past, present and future of the company if the business lines, products and services is relevant in today’s world,” Sanni said.

    NAN

  • Suswam lied about N5b bond, says Benue govt

    Suswam lied about N5b bond, says Benue govt

    The Benue State government has said the administration of former governor, Dr Gabriel Suswam, collected a N5 billion bond before leaving office contrary to claims he purportedly recently made.

    According to a statement Tuesday by Governor Samuel Ortom’s Special Adviser, Media and ICT, Tahav Agerzua, Suswam applied for the money to carry out road construction, but diverted it to offset a bank overdraft.

    Agerzua said: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement signed by the former Governor of Benue State, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, to the effect that his administration did not collect the N5 billion bond which he applied for to spend on some roads before vacating office.

    “He stated categorically that his administration did not collect one naira from that bond. However, numerous official documents with respect to the transaction have debunked and controverted the claims of the former governor.

    “Indeed the documents have provided incontrovertible proof that the bulk of the bond, N4.5billion, was diverted to offset an overdraft which the administration took from a bank and not spent on any of the roads as specified in the terms of the bond.”

    Agerzua stated that when Governor Ortom became aware of the alleged fraud, he engaged former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, to investigate the matter.

    Ortom, Agerzua said, petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “which investigated and discovered that the terms of the bond had been breached and that the bank had colluded with the former governor to divert the proceeds of the bond into purposes other than what it was intended for.”

    He continued: “One of the documents which confirm the diversion is a letter written by the former Accountant-General, Mr. Joseph Kpaakpa, and Director of Treasury, Mr Asen Kwagh-Har to The Regional Manager, United Bank for Africa Plc, Makurdi Branch on 1st April, 2015 that they had ‘authorised the full liquidation of the overdraft facility of N4.5 billion from Bond ll proceeds account.’

    “At a recent meeting of officials of the bank, SEC, and officials of the state government including the Commissioner of Finance, Mr. David Olofu, and Secretary to State Government, Professor Anthony Ijohor, SAN, the bank accepted liability and promised to refund the money.

    It is therefore, surprising that Dr Suswam would deny receiving the bond.”

    He accused Suswam of not coming clean about past government deals

    According to him, the former governor took an advertorial in one of the national dailies to refute news of the sale of Benue State Government shares, but this was later confirmed to be true.

    “He also later sold the state’s shares in Julius Berger as well,” Agerzua added.

    He said: “Every statement Governor Ortom makes with regard to how his predecessor conducted the affairs of state is backed by available documents as was reflected in the report of the Justice Elizabeth Kpojime Commission of Inquiry which uncovered the loot of over N107 billion from Benue State government coffers by the former governor and 51 others.

    “In the case of the N5 billion bond there is abundant documentary evidence of the fraud perpetrated by the former governor.”

    The former governor, according to Agerzua, had no need to borrow at all considering “the enormous resources that came into the state during the Suswam years.”

    “As for the Ortom administration Benue people know that borrowing was inevitable given the circumstances of a deficit treasury and huge financial challenges it inherited from predecessors who plundered and brought the state to its knees.

    “Moreover, the people are getting full value for what was borrowed in terms of infrastructure and other projects in all sectors across the state.

    “The many lies of former governor Suswam and his cohorts which are targeted at smearing the hard-earned reputation of Governor Ortom and his administration will be exposed one by one like the case at hand.”

     

  • Recent employment complied with laid down procedures -SEC

    Recent employment complied with laid down procedures -SEC

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the recent employment of junior staff carried out by the Commission complied with all the laid down procedures normally followed by Government Agencies in recruitment exercise. 
     
    A statement from the Commission last night noted that “contrary to the insinuations in some media houses that the current Director General of the Commission has conducted a secret employment of northerners, most of them from Kano state, our investigation has revealed that out of the twenty (20) candidates invited for interview, only three (3) are from Kano state and the employment cut across 10 states which was done to address the lopsidedness of manpower distribution of the Commission at the junior cadre level.”
     
    The statement added that “findings have equally revealed that Kogi state has the highest number of four (4) candidates, followed by  Bauchi, Kano and Edo states which have 3 candidates each.”
     
    “Also, states, such as, Rivers, Imo, Oyo, Benue, Borno and Kaduna were all represented in the recruitment exercise.”
     
    The SEC statement said, “enquiries have discovered that the vacancies were not advertised considering the fact that the SEC has received an approval letter dated December 29th, 2016 from the Federal Character Commission on waiver of advertisement.”
  • Court dismisses SEC’s bid to overturn verdict on Okereke-Onyiuke

    Court dismisses SEC’s bid to overturn verdict on Okereke-Onyiuke

    The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against a Federal High Court ruling which nullified the removal of Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke as Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

    In that judgment, Justice Mohammed Idris ordered the Commission to pay Okereke-Onyiuke N500 million and described her removal as reckless, hasty and done in bad faith.

    The court awarded N500m against SEC as exemplary and aggravated damages for the “reckless manner” Prof. Okereke-Onyiuke’s right to fair hearing was violated.

    Dissatisfied, SEC filed an appeal and urged the appellate court to set the judgment aside.

    In its notice of appeal, SEC maintained that Okereke-Onyiuke’s sack was in exercise of its statutory powers to protect the NSE, the interest of the investing public and the Nigerian economy as a whole.

    During Friday’s hearing, Okereke-Onyiuke’s lawyer, Michael Akintayo, urged the court to take cognisance of a notice of discontinuance filed by the appellant.

    He submitted that once a notice of discontinuance had been filed the proper order was to dismiss the appeal.

    In her reply, counsel to SEC, Mrs. Imaoboy, urged the court to ignore the notice of discontinuance, adding that it was filed in error.

    But in a short ruling, the panel presided over by Justice U.I. Ndukwe-Anyanwu, noted that SEC had earlier filed a notice of discontinuance of the appeal and that the appeal cannot be resuscitated.

    Justice Ndukwe-Anyanwu held that there was no appeal before the court since the notice of discontinuance had entered the court’s record.

    “You cannot build something on nothing, the appeal ceased to exist before the court the moment notice of discontinuance was filed,” the judge ruled.

     

  • SEC woos NASS to Remove Impediments to Master Plan

    SEC woos NASS to Remove Impediments to Master Plan

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has cried to the National Assembly for help to remove legal impediments hampering the implementation of the capital market master plan.

    Speaking at the stakeholders forum on realizing the potentials of the Nigerian economy through proactive capital market legislation co-hosted by the Capital Market Committees of both the Senate and House of Representatives in Abuja, the Director General of the SEC Mr. Munir Gwazo implored the National Assembly to play a critical role in tackling identified legal impediments to master plan.

    The SEC he said is taking a proactive step to compile a comprehensive document detailing all of the amendments needed to make the Master Plan implementation a success.

    Gwarzo identified some of the impediments to include Jurisdictional conflict between the Investments and Securities Tribunal and the Federal High Courts

    Specifically Section 274 of ISA which grants IST EXCLUSIVE jurisdiction over capital market disputes vs Section 251 (1p,q,r) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria which gives High Courts jurisdiction over executive or administrative actions of SEC. To address this impediment to the actualization of the master plan, Gwarzo appealed to the National Assembly to Include the IST under Section 6(5) of the Constitution and craft “legislation to prescribe the adoption of “Reasonableness test” in conducting judicial review in contrast to the “Correctness Test” as well as make the IST a special Division of the Federal High Court.

    The National Assembly was urged to amend the relevant sections of the Land Use Act to resolve property/land title allocation and transfer issues to facilitate securitization because “Various Sections of the Land Use Act inhibit the development of the capital market. Particularly, Sections 21 & 22 negatively impact transfer of possession and foreclosures which by implication inhibit the takeoff of mortgage-backed securities.”

    The SEC is also demanding for an amendment of Section 22 of Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) to innovatively allow crowd funding of private companies. According to the SEC Director General “Section 22 of CAMA on crowd funding limits members of a private company to 50 while also restricting its transfer of shares.

    Gwarzo stated that “a robust legal and regulatory framework is a necessary condition for the actualization of our master plan aspirations.”

    In his speech, Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market and Institutions Senator Isiaka Adeleke said the National Assembly is keenly aware of the dwindling fortunes of the Capital Market and by extension the economy but that as a parliament they “strongly believe that, the downward slide in Nigeria’s economy, provides the best opportunity for major Stakeholders to begin to return the economy to vibrancy.”

    The two chambers of the National Assembly he said have, come to the jolting realization that the Nigerian economy cannot fully develop without making the capital market the hub or pivot of its developmental strides.

    According to him, “this market has long been neglected and denied its rightful and strategic role in our march towards economic recovery. The Capital Market is a veritable institution for the mobilization, allocation and utilization of long term funds, not just by the Federal but also for States and Local Governments.”