Economy
SEC to Step up Investor Education
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Head of the Office of the Chief Economist of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Okey Umeano, disclosed that the commission would intensify its commitment to continue educating and enlightening investors to ensure they make informed investment decisions.
In an interview in Abuja, Mr Umeano stated that the recent upsurge in the activities of illegal fund managers has been a source of worry to the agency and assured investors that the SEC was working hard along with other government officials agencies to reduce their activities to the barest minimum.
“This is an area that we are doing a lot and still have a lot to do. If you look at the Capital Market Master Plan, you will see that a lot of the things we want to do revolves around investor education. In investor education, we tell investors how to know who is genuine, and it is very simple.
“Just go to the sec.gov.ng; on the search portal, you can type CMO. The search portal comes out, and you type the name of the firm marketing to you; if it is not there, then it is not registered with SEC, which means you are not protected. You are not covered by that investor protection that I am talking about. Those who are marketing financial products, investment-related financial products must come to SEC and be registered,” he stated.
Mr Umeano disclosed that in an effort to protect investors further, the commission has been carrying out enforcement exercises against these illegal fund managers and would continue to do so.
“We have been going around closing Ponzi schemes and all those illegal fund managers, and you know we have been on different stations. I personally have been on several TV stations, radios, and newspapers talking about this. We are about to launch a few billboards around the country saying these same things. Nigerians must understand that the money that they are giving people it is difficult to get.
“It is difficult to raise capital, and before you give it to someone, it is important to know that person is the right person. This they can easily ascertain by going on our website. That is the message,” he said.
He stated that SEC has a police Unit that assists in investigating these entities and carrying out enforcement actions when the need arises while also collaborating with relevant government agencies like the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“The problem with Ponzi schemes is they use the money from Mr A to pay Mr B and use Mr B’s own to pay Mr C, and while they are paying all that, they are taking their own, so by the time we close them, there’s not enough money again to return to the people whose money they took. You also know they promise outrageous returns, and these returns are paid to the first people.
“We have a few now that we are trying to resolve, but I must tell you that it is difficult for anyone who has put money in a Ponzi scheme to recover much. Nigerians must understand this. If anyone promises you a return too good to be true, then it is probably not true,” he said.
Mr Umeano, therefore, urged Nigerians to be vigilant and carry out their due diligence by visiting the commission’s website to ascertain the registration status of the entities before investing, adding that there is also a need for them to understand the products they are investing in to obtain desired returns on their investments.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange returned to positive territory after back-to-back losses, following a 0.07 per cent appreciation on Wednesday, March 22.
This was influenced by the 96 Kobo gain reported by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc during the session to settle at N75.41 per share compared with N75.01 per share of the preceding session.
The improvement in the share price of the milk maker pushed the value of the unlisted securities market by N710 million to N961.17 billion from N960.46 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) grew by 0.54 points to wrap the session at 731.48 points compared with the 730.94 points of the previous session.
The level of activity witnessed a significant increase yesterday as the volume of securities closed higher by 274,515.6 per cent to 23.1 million units from the 8,408 units transacted in the previous trading day.
Equally, the value of shares traded at the session jumped to N10.1 million, which by evaluation is 814.0 per cent higher than the N1.1 million posted on Tuesday.
These transactions were carried out in 13 deals compared with the three deals executed in the previous trading day, indicating a 333.3 per cent appreciation.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 455.3 million units valued at N493.6 million, UBN Property Plc stood in second place with a turnover of 365.8 units worth N309.5 million, while IGI Plc was in third place with a turnover of 71.1 million units valued at N5.1 million.
On the flip side, VFD Group Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 7.3 million units worth N1.7 billion, Geo-Fluids Plc followed with the sale of 455.3 million units worth N493.6 million, while UBN Property Plc was in third place with a turnover of 365.8 million units valued at N309.5 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose more than $1 on Wednesday as the US Dollar slid to a six-week low after the Federal Reserve delivered an expected small rate hike.
Brent crude futures rose by $1.37 or 1.8 per cent to settle at $76.69 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) ended $1.23 or 1.8 per cent higher at $70.90 per barrel.
The US central bank policy-setting committee raised interest rates by another quarter of a percentage point in a unanimous decision on Wednesday, lifting its benchmark overnight interest rate to the 4.75 per cent-5.00 per cent range.
The Fed indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases in borrowing costs amid recent turmoil in financial markets spurred by the collapse of two US banks.
As a result of this, the US Dollar fell to its lowest level since February 2 against a basket of other currencies, supporting oil demand by making crude cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
The Dollar index last fell 0.63 per cent to 102.500, with the Euro up 0.87 per cent to $1.0861 as it dropped 0.82 per cent against the Japanese Yen, while the Pound Sterling was last trading at $1.2268, up 0.41 per cent on the day.
The markets— including the oil market—had projected a quarter-point rise in US rates, but investors were also paying close attention to US Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments about the crisis that has rattled global banks this month.
The oil markets shrugged off the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly data that showed crude stockpiles rose 1.1 million barrels last week to a 22-month high.
This is compared with a build of 1.6 million barrels for the previous week.
The authority also reported major draws in fuel inventories for the week of March 17, with both gasoline and distillate fuel stocks down.
US crude oil stocks stood at 481.2 million barrels at the end of last week, which was about 8 per cent above the five-year average for this time of the year.
The official EIA data showed a smaller build than the 3.3 million barrels increase reported on Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute (API).
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies like Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is likely to stick to its deal on output cuts of 2 million barrels per day until the end of the year, despite the plunge in crude prices.
By Adedapo Adesanya
On Wednesday, the value of the Naira strengthened against the US Dollar at the different segments of the foreign exchange (forex).
Data showed that the Nigerian currency closed stronger in the parallel market, the Peer-2-Peer (P2P), and the Investors and Exporters (I&E) categories of the FX market.
In the black market, the Naira gained N2 against its American counterpart yesterday to quote at N741/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N743/$1.
Similarly, in the P2P window, the local currency appreciated against the greenback by N2 to close at N753/$1 compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N755/$1.
Further, the domestic currency gained 50 Kobo or 0.11 per cent against the US Dollar in the official market to settle at N461.50/$1 versus the previous day’s N462.00/$1.
It was observed that the Nigerian Naira came under pressure yesterday as the daily turnover surged by 588.9 per cent or $369.10 million to $431.77 million from $62.67 million.
However, in the interbank segment, the Naira suffered a N1 loss against the Pound Sterling to sell at N564.66/£1 versus Tuesday’s N563.66/£1, and against the Euro, it lost N3.40 to close at N496.99/€1 versus N493.59/€1.
The cryptocurrency market was bearish in the midweek session as the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 0.25 per cent despite inflation falling last month to 6 per cent.
Bitcoin (BTC) lost 3.1 per cent as it traded $27,397.72, Ethereum (ETH) shrank by 3.6 per cent to $1,742.00, Ripple (XRP) recorded an 8.4 per cent depreciation to trade at $0.4236, Binance Coin (BNB) dropped 4.4 per cent to sell at $321.21, Solana (SOL) also fell by 4.4 per cent to quote at $21.43, Cardano (ADA) made a 3.5 per cent slump to trade at $0.3581, and Dogecoin (DOGE) made a 3.1 per cent depreciation to sell at $0.0742.
But Litecoin (LTC) went northwards by 7.4 per cent to trade at $88.01, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) traded at flat $1.00 each.
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