Economy
SEC Mulls e-Dividend Fee in Bank Charges
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to include electronic Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS) charges in its Guideline for Bank Charges.
The Acting Director-General of the SEC, Ms Mary Uduk, made this disclosure at the end of the Second Quarter Capital Market Committee Meeting (CMC) in Lagos during the weekend.
She explained that the CBN has published charges for the banks, which means that any transactions carried out by any bank has an established charge.
The agency also announced that considerable progress has been made in the implementation of its consolidation of multiple shareholder accounts and e-DMMS as so far about 3.4 billion shares have been consolidated.
According to her, “The e-dividend charge is not part of the charges from the CBN and so because of that investors, are having issues with banks where for instance, they are charged for so much e-transaction that is not listed as bank charges which they do not know.
“They complained to us and so we decided that we will engage CBN to actually make this part of their charges and so any e-dividend carried out will be charged by the CBN.
“This came up as a result of us stopping the payment of the e-dividend mandate as we were underwriting the cost for the initiative before we mandated investors to pay a token of N150 per mandate.
“We believe the capital market of our dreams can only be achieved through the collaboration of all stakeholders,” Ms Uduk said.
Speaking on considerable progress that has been made in the implementation of its consolidation of multiple shareholder accounts and e-DMMS, she said: “Both measures were introduced as part of checking the growth and possibly eliminating the unclaimed dividend menace in the nation’s capital market.
Ms Uduk revealed that a total of 2.7 million share accounts have so far been captured under the e-DMMS, expressing satisfaction with the regularization of multiple shareholders accounts since it was launched last year, describing investor response as very impressive.
Ms Uduk added that with the help of the Multiple Subscription Committee, 3.4 billion shares have so far been effectively consolidated. The committee, “informed the meeting that the Committee of Heads of Banking Operations had agreed to collaborate with the commission to display banners in (their) banking halls all over the country, sensitizing the public on the regularization of multiple subscriptions of shares.”
Similarly, stockbrokers and registrars are requested “to make available to the Committee on Multiple Subscription Account, on a periodic basis, the number of regularized accounts.”
Company Secretaries of listed companies, she continued, “have also agreed to display similar information on their website and offices.”
The meeting climaxed with a resolve that the SEC should engage relevant stakeholders on the e-Dividend and Multiple Subscription Accounts so as to ensure “that complete investor data are transferred among operators such as Brokers, registrars and the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS).
SEC was also charge to help discourage unclaimed dividends from building up from securities of newly-listed companies, just as modalities should be developed for validating shareholders’ registers, such that “registrars are furnished with incomplete information such as missing account numbers.”
Speaking further, the Acting DG noted that the issue of unclaimed dividend was dynamic, given that as the old heap is being cleared by the registrars, new ones are mounting by the day.
Furthermore, Ms Uduk said the CMC’s Identity Management Committee gave updates of its meeting with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on the implications of the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation on capital market operations.
There are plans, the committee announced, “to develop a standardized data form, which seeks to consolidate registration and access to processes in the capital market by investors.”
After discussions on the issue, the CMC resolved that the SEC invites NITDA to make a presentation on the impact of the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation on the capital market at the 2019 Q3 CMC meeting.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Strong appetite for unlisted stocks further raised the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.22 per cent on Friday, February 27.
Data revealed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) was up by 49.41 points to 4,083.87 points from 4,034.46 points, and lifted the market capitalisation by N19.56 billion to N2.433 trillion from N2.413 trillion.
The volume of securities bought and sold by investors increased by 243.0 per cent to 4.5 million units from 1.3 million units, and the number of deals grew by 15.8 per cent to 44 deals from 38 deals, while the value of securities went down by 19.7 per cent to N82.5 million from N102.8 million.
Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc ended the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 35.0 million units valued at N2.1 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 6.3 million units worth N1.1 billion, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 122.8 million units transacted for N480.4 million.
Resourcery Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 1.05 billion units sold for N408.7 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 122.8 million units valued at N480.4 million, and CSCS Plc with 35.0 million units traded for N2.1 billion.
There were six price gainers yesterday led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which added N9.02 to close at N111.46 per unui compared with the previous day’s N102.44 per unit, Nipco Plc appreciated by N6.00 to N284.00 per share from N278.00 per share, CSCS Plc recouped N1.87 to sell at N70.12 per unit versus Thursday’s value of N68.25 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc improved by 17 Kobo to close at N3.18 per share versus N3.01 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc advanced by 5 Kobo to sell at N50 Kobo per unit versus the preceding day’s 45 Kobo per unit, and Acorn Petroleum Plc chalked up 2 Kobo to settle at N1.34 per share, in contrast to the previous day’s N1.32 per share.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira performed poorly against the United States Dollar in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on February 27, closing the week without a gain.
In the black market, the domestic currency weakened against the Dollar yesterday by N5 to close at N1,370/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1,365/$1, and at the GT Bank forex desk, it lost N2 to sell N1,369/$1 versus the N1,367/$1 it was sold a day earlier.
Yesterday, the Nigerian Naira lost N3.75 or 0.26 per cent against the greenback at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) to trade at N1,363.39/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,359.82/$1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the Euro at the official market during the session by N2.33 to quote at N1,609.22/€1 versus N1,606.89/€1, and appreciated against the Pound Sterling by N6.74 to settle at N1,836.49/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,843.23/£1.
The Naira’s latest depreciation occurred as FX demand continued to outpace available supply, intensifying pressure in the market.
In response to the negative momentum, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervened by selling Dollars to banks and other authorised dealers in an effort to stabilise the local currency. The move came barely a week after the apex bank had purchased about $190 million from the foreign exchange market to temper the Naira’s rally.
Specifically, the CBN injected $200 million into the official market between Tuesday and Wednesday through an intervention call. However, the liquidity support proved insufficient to reverse the currency’s downward trend.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market declined on Friday, with Solana (SOL) down by 10.4 per cent to $78.60, as Dogecoin (DOGE) decreased by 9.5 per cent to $0.0982.
Further, Cardano (ADA) slumped 8.9 per cent to $0.2647, Ethereum (ETH) slipped by 8.6 per cent to $1,859.10, Ripple (XRP) shrank by 8.2 per cent to $1.30, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.4 per cent to close at $52.39, Bitcoin (BTC) slid 5.9 per cent to $63,686.39, and Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 4.9 per cent to $596.64, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose about 2 per cent on Friday, with traders bracing for supply disruptions as nuclear talks between the United States and Iran were without an agreement.
Brent crude futures settled at $72.48 a barrel after chalking up $1.73 or 2.45 per cent, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures finished at $67.02 a barrel, up $1.81 or 2.78 per cent.
The two sides agreed to extend indirect negotiations into next week, but traders grew sceptical that an agreement between US President Donald Trump’s administration and Iran was possible.
The US and Iran held indirect talks in Geneva on Thursday after Mr Trump ordered a military buildup in the region.
Oil prices gained during the talks, on media reports indicating that discussions had stalled over U.S. insistence on zero enrichment of uranium by Iran. However, prices eased after the mediator from Oman said the two sides had made progress.
They plan to resume negotiations with technical-level discussions scheduled next week in Vienna, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said on X.
Market analysts noted that geopolitical risk premiums of $8 to $10 a barrel have been built into oil prices on fears that a conflict will disrupt Middle East supply through the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20 per cent of global oil supply passes.
To cushion the impact from a possible strike, one of the world’s largest oil producers, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is set to export more of its flagship Murban crude in April, while Saudi Arabia said it would also increase oil production.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia may raise its April crude price to Asia for the first time in five months due to higher demand from India to replace Russian supplies, potentially raising it by about $1 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) is likely to consider raising oil output by 137,000 barrels per day for April at its March 1 meeting, after suspending production increases in the first quarter.
The resumption of output increases after a three-month pause would allow Saudi Arabia and the UAE to regain market share at a time when other OPEC+ members, such as Russia and Iran, contend with Western sanctions while Kazakhstan recovers from a series of oil production setbacks.
Eight OPEC+ producers – Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria and Oman will meet at the meeting on Sunday.
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