We Plan to Improve Capital Market’s Contribution to Economic Growth—SEC DG

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda, has said his team plans to improve the capital market’s contribution to economic growth through the implementation of the Capital Market Master Plan, which is currently under review.

Mr Yuguda said this during a meeting with the management team of Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa in Abuja over the weekend.

He informed the team that the master plan review has been concluded by PwC and expressed confidence that it will be beneficial to the capital market and the nation at large.

“We are glad about all the assistance we have received, the Master plan review has been concluded by PWC and we hope that the implementation of the Capital Market Master Plan will deepen our market and improve the capital market’s contribution to our economic growth and national development.

“To this end, the review of the Capital Market Master Plan better positions the SEC to deliver on these objectives in these very challenging times.

“The FSD Africa and SEC Nigeria’s laudable partnership underscores our mutual goals to build financial markets that are robust, efficient and above all-inclusive,” he said.

The DG also restated the commitment of the agency to ensuring that technology plays a major role in ensuring that the nation’s capital market attains its full potential, expressing the commission’s delight with the support from FSD Africa in the areas of human resource transformation and information technology strategy.

“I cannot but express my support to FSD Africa for the various supports they have given to the commission in various areas. We are very excited about the human resource transformation exercise as the report will assist the commission in profound ways that will lead to optimal productivity of staff.

“What you are doing is commendable, you are looking at African financial markets and trying to assist to ensure that productivity and development are enhanced. We, therefore, assure you that these investments are well placed and we will continue to work to earn the confidence that you have in us,” he stated.

The SEC DG disclosed that the current management is also looking at other sources of support so that the march towards that agency that everyone wants to see in the future is very fast and very efficient.

“The commission has also been doing a number of things to ensure that the aim of these supports is not defeated. Since we came in we have prioritised the issue of human resource management, we want to leave behind a culture of excellence.

“Thank you for the considerable assistance on IT. What we have done too is to explore domestic sources of funding for our IT infrastructure and thankfully, we are making tremendous progress in that regard,” he added.

In his remarks, Chief Executive Officer of FDS Africa, Mr Mike Napier, expressed excitement that the SEC decided to embark on the various initiatives in a bid to have a stronger and better capital market regulator which translates into a well-regulated market.

Mr Napier said well-functioning capital markets can play a vital role in support of inclusive economic growth by channelling long term finance into infrastructure and other large-scale projects that create jobs and improve access to markets, adding that strengthening regulatory capacity in capital markets is an essential pre-condition for building investor confidence.

He said, “We are very happy that you have taken these challenges to embark on these various initiatives to ensure that your processes are better which will ultimately lead to a better regulator for the capital market.

“In FSD Africa we are embracing innovation and that is why we are providing support for these various projects, it is a long journey but we know we will get there at the end of it all.”

Mr Napier expressed satisfaction with the SEC for embracing innovation in a bid to become a progressive regulator stating that across Africa there are not many organisations that are able to do this especially given the issues of the paucity of funds.

“The big one would be when the market players note the changes in the SEC and the transformations that have taken place. We are glad you are on that journey and we hope it will end well,” he added.

FSD Africa’s support is centred around the development of capital markets master plans, conducting institutional capacity assessments, and creating capacity for sustainable finance such as green bonds, helping markets to adapt to their operating climate.