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Economy

SEC to Remove Needless Requirements for Efficient Capital Market

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capital market dynamics

By Dipo Olowookere

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has promised to review some of the rules guiding the capital market with a view to making them more flexible and attractive to investors.

The Director-General of the agency, Mr Lamido Yuguda, while speaking recently in Lagos at the CEO Roundtable organised by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, admitted that there are some requirements preventing companies from listing their shares for public trading, promising to collaborate with other regulatory organisations in the ecosystem to make them better.

He said SEC was happy to have an engagement with other regulators and issuers to hear directly from them, saying in 2021, the commission partnered with the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) to inaugurate the Securities Issuers Forum (SIF) to create an avenue for issuers to engage directly with regulators on pertinent regulatory issues.

According to him, the objectives of the forum, amongst others, are to maintain regular contact with the regulator; promote sound corporate governance and ethical conduct; advise the regulator on regulations affecting companies and issuers; promote healthy competition; and maintain an enabling business environment by monitoring issues of direct relevance to members.

“Let me reiterate that the SEC is continually focused on increasing the visibility and attractiveness of our market and will continue to focus on building and sustaining a fair, transparent and efficient capital market.

“The commission will also continue to embrace the ease-of-doing-business principle by simplifying its processes and enhancing time-to-market through the elimination of superfluous requirements that lead to inordinate delays in capital raising and other capital market operations.

“This is particularly important so that the market be deepened further and provide an avenue for hitherto inadmissible entities to be eligible for listing,” Mr Yuguda stated.

The SEC DG further said efforts are being made to ensure the repeal of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 and the passage of a new Investments and Securities Bill into law.

He explained that this is to align the law with current realities and global trends in capital market regulation, including growing changes in market practices, processes and products.

“We have consistently focussed on the creation of an ecosystem in which governments, entrepreneurs and other issuers can efficiently access capital. Stakeholders must however look further to introduce more products, leveraging on the emerging trend of financial technology,” he added.

Mr Yuguda stated that the theme of the event, Creating the enabling ecosystem for accessing capital from the Nigerian capital markets, resonates with the mandate of the agency of developing and regulating the market while protecting investors.

He said the demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), which led to the emergence of the current NGX Group, has brought with it a renewed focus on expanding the market by consolidating the successes achieved through the traditional methods of capital raising while working with important stakeholders to introduce new sources of financing.

“The commission welcomes the sound initiatives of NGX for continued engagement with experts to share their perspectives on changes that would lead to the much-desired expansion of the market.

“This effort would not have come at a better time than now when economies are just beginning to face the devastating economic reality of the Ukraine and Russia crisis, which reared its head, just as nations were still grappling with the health and economic challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic.

“You may be aware that the commission is in the implementation phase of a comprehensive market and institutional reform programme, the Capital Market Master Plan that is intended to reposition the Nigerian capital market to be globally competitive.

“The commission has successfully completed a comprehensive review of the master plan. The reviewed plan is expected to guide further development of the capital market so as to attract more funds for economic growth and development,” he informed the participants.

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan. Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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Economy

Geo-Fluids, Afriland Properties Lift NASD Bourse by 0.13%

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shareholders of Afriland Properties

By Adedapo Adesanya

The duo of Geo-Fluids Plc and Afriland Properties Plc propelled the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange up 0.13 per cent on Friday, January 10.

Investors gained N1.4 billion during the trading session after the market capitalisation of the bourse ended at N1.053 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.052 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased at the close of business by 4.07 points to wrap the session at 3,073.93 points compared with 3,069.86 points recorded at the previous session.

Geo-Fluids added 25 Kobo to its value to close at N4.85 per unit compared with the previous session’s N4.60 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N16.25 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N16.01 per share.

There was a 35.4 per cent fall in the volume of securities traded in the session as investors exchanged 4.3 million units compared to 6.6 million units traded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday went down by 37.4 per cent to N17.2 million from the N27.5 million recorded a day earlier, and the number of deals decreased by 47.2 per cent to 19 deals from the 36 deals recorded in the preceding day.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance  (IGI )Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.

IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.

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Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,543/$1 at Official Market

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Naira-Yuan Currency Swap Deal

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira witnessed a depreciation on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 10.

According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by 0.12 per cent or N1.80 to sell for N1,543.03/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.23/$1.

The pressure on the domestic currency came as the access granted to the Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase FX from the official market through the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform prepares to end next week, precisely on January 19.

The CBN had given a 42-day window to the operators to access the platform to help stabilise the Naira in December, and this expires next week.

On Friday, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N30.78 to sell for N1,889.29/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,858.51/£1, but gained N5.48 against the Euro to finish at N1,583.81/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of N1,589.29/€1.

As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira remained stable against the US Dollar during the trading session at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.

In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish as the US economy added 256,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, topping forecasts for 160,000 and up from 212,000 in November (revised from an originally reported 227,000).

However, the readings came after a number of recent economic reports triggered a broad-market pullback across asset classes such as crypto as investors quickly scaled back the idea of a continued series of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.

Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.921, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $185.93, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $3,233.27, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.3 per cent to finish at $103.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.3315, Bitcoin (BTC), waned by 0.2 per cent to $94,154.43, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.1  per cent to $693.30.

On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.5 per cent to settle at $2.34, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.

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Economy

Customs Street Crumbles by 0.08% as Profit-Takers Take Charge

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Customs Street

By Dipo Olowookere

Profit-takers took control of Customs Street on Friday, plunging it by 0.08 per cent at the close of trading activities.

The sell-offs were across all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on last trading session of the week.

The insurance space went down by 1.53 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector weakened by 0.16 per cent, and the energy counter slumped by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 79.68 points to 105,451.06 points from 105,530.74 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N48 billion to N64.303 trillion from N64.351 trillion.

Yesterday, investors traded 1.5 billion shares worth N19.4 billion in 12,877 deals compared with the 489.5 million shares worth N13.1 billion transacted in 13,010 deals in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 1.02 deals and a rise in the trading volume and value by 203.14 per cent and 48.09 per cent, respectively.

Wema Bank was the busiest stock with 976.2 million units valued at N9.8 billion, Tantalizers traded 53.0 million units worth 129.6 million, Universal Insurance sold 34.8 million units for N26.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 33.9 million units valued at N843.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 27.3 million units worth N873.3 million.

The heaviest loss was suffered by Sunu Assurances with a decline of 9.99 per cent to trade at N7.30, Eunisell shed 9.96 per cent to N17.35, SAHCO crumbled by 9.87 per cent to N30.15, DAAR Communications plunged by 9.28 per cent to 88 Kobo, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 7.04 per cent to N1.32.

On the flip side, C&I Leasing gained 10.00 per cent to close at N4.51, Honeywell Flour appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N10.02, Trans Nationwide Express jumped by 9.89 per cent to N2.00, RT Briscoe rose by 9.83 per cent to N2.57, and Secure Electronic Technology grew by 9.46 per cent to 81 Kobo.

Business Post reports that the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

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