By Aduragbemi Omiyale
More than 4 million accounts opened by investors with stockbrokers in Nigeria are with incomplete know-your-customer (KYC) data.
This information was revealed by the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda.
He, therefore, reminded capital market operators (CMOs) to ensure they ask their clients to update their accounts with the necessary information.
Mr Yuguda reminded the operators that the directive on the KYC update was still in effect.
“We have noted that the level of compliance has been low. Despite several engagements, we realised that as at April 8, 2021, there were still 4,012,311 accounts with incomplete KYC information.
“This exercise is critical to deepening the participation of retail investors and we direct all CMOs to accord it the highest level of priority,” the SEC DG said at the first post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting press briefing held in Abuja last weekend.
Mr Yuguda disclosed that a major highlight of the year 2021 is the reintroduction of periodic renewal of registration by CMOs, noting that the rationale for this was to ensure that operators in the market were fit and proper at all times and to strengthen the supervision and monitoring activities of the commission.
The renewal process is electronic and the deadline for the 2021 renewal is April 30, 2021.
The SEC boss stated that despite the turbulence experienced with the outbreak of the pandemic, the Nigerian capital market stood resilient adding that the capital market community-contributed its quota to the fight against COVID-19.
“I am delighted at the efforts that we made and pledge that we shall not relent in our efforts. To this end, our next phase of support in the fight against COVID-19 will be the establishment of the Strategic Health Impact Fund for Transformation (SHIFT). This is planned to be a N100 billion fund for investment in healthcare assets in Nigeria,” he said.
Mr Yuguda also stated that the agency was at the mid-point of implementing its Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) and has commenced a review to update the assumptions and align the plan with current realities.
Similarly, he said SEC has released new rules on warehousing, collateral management, crowdfunding, fund management products and nominee companies to ensure proper regulation and development of the market.
