Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
As part of a sustained effort to reduce unclaimed dividends in the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded plans to rebuild the e-Dividend Management Mandate System (e-DMMS) platform.
According to the Director-General of SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, some measures have been adopted by the agency to increase the number of mandated investors in the e-DMMS scheme.
Mr Yuguda said this involves having a centralised submission of e-dividend mandate forms, an Application Programming Interface (API) for banks and registrars, and a revamped web interface, among others.
He stated that SEC had invested a lot of resources as well as embarked on a number of programmes on investor education to ensure that people mandate their accounts to enable them to receive the benefits of their investment in the capital market.
“The reason why the number may not be reducing as expected is that many investors have not mandated their accounts. Dividends are now distributed electronically, so dividends go directly into the investor’s account, and if everybody mandates their accounts, there would be few unclaimed dividends in the system.
“This process is still open and can be done with the registrars, forms can be obtained from the banks, too, and it’s a very simple process. We also have on our website a tool that assists investors in determining any unclaimed dividends that they have. And I would encourage everyone to take advantage of these tools or to speak to the complaints section of the SEC directly, and we would guide that person appropriately,” he stated.
The SEC DG expressed appreciation to the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions on Unclaimed Dividends over its efforts to investigate the rising value of unclaimed dividends and unremitted withholding tax on dividends.
He assured of the commission’s readiness to provide all the necessary support to the committee to enable it to carry out its assignment.
Mr Yuguda also emphasised the need for the stakeholders in the financial sector to collectively work towards enacting the Investments and Securities Bill 2022, which will enhance the performance of the Nigerian capital market and align it with global best practices.
