By Dipo Olowookere
A chartered member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), Dr Timi Olubiyi, has urged capital market regulators to reduce some of the listing requirements for companies intending to join the stock exchange.
The financial literacy specialist in a recent post said more companies should be encouraged to join the capital market, noting that this will make the exchange more robust.
According to him, support should be given to big organisations as well as those in the small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to deepen market participation.
He, therefore, called for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and other regulatory agencies in the space to lower the listing requirements to encourage more participation.
Dr Oluyibi opined that if the transaction and listing costs are reduced by these agencies, more firms will be attracted to the market and make this space wider because the more the merrier.
“On the part of the regulators to deepening market participation, it is recommended that necessary support be given to large firms, SMEs including government agencies to list.
“The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) should relax the listing requirements to accommodate more qualified companies to list on the Nigerian stock exchange.
“More so, the lowering of transaction and listing costs will directly attract more listings and deepen market participation.
“Point of note is that the co-operation and co-ordination between and among the various financial markets regulators SEC, NSE CBN, Pension Commission (PenCom), Debt Management Office (DMO) and National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) need to be strengthened to assure coherent of policies.
“Therefore, the post-COVID-19 regulatory regime should involve consistent and coordinated policy responses and pronouncement from these regulators and agencies to create considerable effective implementations, which will, in turn, boost market confidence,” he said.
He also asked the government and other economic policymakers to support the Nigerian capital market, especially in this COVID-19 period.
According to him, “It is imperative to state that the capital market can always support economic growth if the needed policies are put in place.
“Currently, Nigeria majorly depends on crude oil foreign revenue to have a stable economy and this revenue expectation has been dashed due to global shocks.
“This lull and weakening of the economy also affect the performance of the listed companies on the exchange and the capital market as a whole.
“Therefore, to mitigate the negative impact and to respond to the COVID-19 consequences, government intervention is necessary.”
