SEC Capital Market Institute Expands Operations

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Nigerian Capital Market Institute (NCMI) is poised to enhance the market development role of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by providing excellent capital market education to stakeholders in a bid to deepen the Nigerian capital market as well as boost investments in the capital market.

This was stated by Managing Director of the institute, Mr Ismaila Ville, while speaking with journalists after the successful accreditation of the institute in Abuja, Tuesday.

The NCMI is the educational and training arm of the Nigerian capital markets regulator, the SEC.

Mr Ville, who said the accreditation will be beneficial to the institute and to the capital market community at large, also stated that the organisation had previously been identified by Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) to be an accredited training provider (ATP) that will provide global certification to capital market operators within Nigeria.

He said the vision of the SEC management is for the NCMI to become a world-class training institute and the first amongst its peers adding that It is in furtherance of this vision that the commission entered into the partnership with the CISI (UK) to ensure professionalism in the market.

“As you all know, the SEC has a dual mandate to regulate and develop the Nigerian capital market. In furtherance of its developmental mandate, the Nigerian Capital Market Institute (NCMI) was established in 2004 to promote human capacity development and bridge the knowledge gap in the financial services sector with particular reference to the capital markets,” he stated.

The NCMI boss expressed excitement at the accreditation which is happening after 16 years of the existence of the institute and hoped the NCMI will continue to be a catalyst for capital market growth in Africa.

“As you may be aware the NCMI has been in operation since 2004. So, it is a great achievement for us today to be accredited as an institute.

“Some of the benefits of this accreditation are: It now allows a smooth relation with other institutions who offer certification programs, it allows the institute to run certification programs and continuous professional education/ units, there can be membership of the institute and It grants the Institute more credibility that engenders more public/ capital market confidence,” he stated.

Recall that the SEC recently signed an MoU with CISI to develop and strengthen the regulatory examinations currently being run by the NCMI and also work closely to develop Nigeria-specific content for CISI’s professional refresher which shall form part of the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for market operators in Nigeria.

To ensure the sustainability of the partnership, train-the-trainer sessions will be delivered to NCMI.

The establishment of the institution is in furtherance of section 82 of the investment and securities Act No 29 of 2007 which gives SEC the powers to promote investor education and training of all categories of regulators and intermediaries in the capital market.