Economy
Tribunal Slams N5m Fine on Four Stockbrokers
By Dipo Olowookere
Four stockbroking firms have been ordered to pay the sum of N5 million as fine for engaging in illegal transactions.
The four stockbrokers are Gosord Securities Limited, UIDC Securities Limited, Kapital Care Trust Securities Limited and Union Registrars Limited.
They were found guilty of unlawfully selling shares belonging to an investor worth millions of Naira.
The matter was brought before the Enugu arm of the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) by the affected investor, Mr Okam Kalu Ugwu.
He joined the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the apex capital market regulator, and the four firms in the suit.
Chairman of the tribunal, Mr Nosa Smart Osemwengie, while ruling on the case, ordered that all irregular transactions in the Union Bank shares variously numbering 9,740 units, 20,740 units, 13,333, units, 9, 740 units, 25,000 units, 16,000, and 12,986 units contained in different share certificates were illegal, unlawful, null and void.
The Tribunal also ordered that the 16,876 units, 5,000 units, 850 units and 2,813 units of Union Bank shares purportedly covered by four other certificates be expunged from the claim, having not been established by credible evidence.
Furthermore, the IST reached the verdict that Union Registrars Limited, UIDC Securities Limited and Gosord Securities Limited are to restore and restitute the claimant with 549,453 Union Bank shares and all bonuses and dividends in line with capital market rules, practice and procedures not later than 30 days from the date of the judgment.
According to a statement issued by the acting Director, Corporate Affairs at the IST, Mr Kenneth Ezea, Union Registrars Limited was equally ordered to restore the name of the claimant, Dr Okam Kalu Ugwu, in the register of shareholders of Union Bank Plc as relate to the disputed shares in line with capital market rules, practices and procedures not later than 30 days from the date of the judgment.
Also, all irregular transactions in the claimant’s Guinness Plc shares covered by certificate number 22279776 were also declared illegal, null and void and Union Registrars Limited (2nd Defendant) and UIDC Securities Limited (3rd Defendants) were ordered to restore and restitute the claimant with 2,083 units of Guinness Nigeria Plc with accrued bonuses and dividends, unlawfully verified, transferred and sold to third parties through their platforms not later than 30 days from the date of the judgment while Union Registrars (2nd Defendant) is to restore the name of the Claimant in the register of shareholders of Guinness Nigeria Plc.
Kapital Care Trust Securities Limited being the 5th Defendant was ordered to restore and restitute the claimant with the 72,151units of Union Bank shares and accrued bonuses and dividends it unlawfully dealt with in line with Capital Market Rules, Practice and Procedures not later than 30 days from the date of the judgment and as well fined N100,000 to be paid into the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria for breach of professional ethics in dealing with shares of the claimant.
In addition, the sum of N5 million was awarded as general damages against the Union Registrar Ltd, UIDC Securities Limited and Gosord Securities Ltd jointly and severally in favour of the claimant.
Restating the account of the case, Mr Osemwengie said the action was commenced by way of Originating Application filed by the claimant, Dr Okam Kalu Ugwu, a Medical Doctor, who claimed that he had over a total of 549,453 units of Union Bank shares at all material time to the commencement of the action.
He alleged that a total of 133,078 units of the shares were unlawfully verified, dematerialized and transferred to 3rd parties by some of the defendants without his authority, consent and knowledge.
The claimant alleged further that the Union Registrars Ltd joggled its shareholding such that another 416,375 units of his Union Bank shares cannot be accounted for.
He alleged further that his 2,083 units of Guinness Plc shares were also unlawfully verified, dematerialised and transferred to 3rd parties through the 2nd Defendant, Union Registrars, without his authority, consent and knowledge.
Dr Ugwu informed the court that all his share certificates were kept in his residence at Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Abia State and that sometime on the July 30, 2007, he received a caution notice from First Registrars that some of his shares had been provided for verification.
Alarmed that he did not give any instruction on his shares, he raced to where he kept his share certificates only to discover that they had disappeared.
The claimant contended that Union Registrars did not respond to the letter written to it, rather it went ahead and dealt with the claimant’s shares.
As a follow up to the letter already sent to the 2nd Defendant, the claimant, on December 4, 2007, went to the office of the 2nd defendant to demand for details on his shareholding account. The claimant said he met one Mr Akeem who told him to produce copies of the share certificates and dividend warrant stumps to help in reconciling his account. This, the claimant said he supplied to Mr Akeem.
On December 16, 2007, the claimant wrote another letter to the 2nd defendant reiterating his previous demands for details on his accounts, but no response was given. He decided to write a letter dated April 6, 2009 asking the 2nd defendant to place a caveat on his shares.
However, the claimant was surprised to receive a letter from the 2nd defendant in December 2009 purported to have been written to him since December 30, 2008. Enclosed in the letter were purported statement of account of the shareholding with Union Bank of Nigeria Plc dated January 26, 2009 containing 71, 311 units of shares, purported dividend report and CSCS transaction on his share accounts.
The defendants even traced the theft of the share certificates to an in-law of the claimant who was a stockbroker but finding no merits in their defence the tribunal blamed them for failure to exercise caution and apply the standard know your customer precautions even when duly forewarned. They were restrained from further dealing unlawfully with the claimant’s shares.
SEC, being the 1st defendant, was exonerated from liability “From the totality of evidence before us, we do not think the 1st defendant has breached his statutory role as apex regulatory body. We therefore hold that the 1st defendant has performed its duties reasonably well.”
But SEC was directed, under its regulatory powers, to supervise, monitor and ensure compliance by the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th defendants to the orders of the tribunal not later than 30 days from the date of this judgment.
SEC is also to ensure that shares restored and restituted to claimant are moved to the stockbroker company of his choice.
By Dipo Olowookere
Waning investor confidence is fast taking its toll on Nigerian stocks as they continue to depreciate due to persistent profit-taking.
Selling pressure further weakened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday by 0.45 per cent in the absence of a positive trigger.
According to data from Customs Street, there were 14 price gainers and 44 price losers yesterday, implying a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
The trio of Learn Africa, DAAR Communications, and Legend Internet gave up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N7.02, 90 Kobo, and N4.77 apiece as AXA Mansard lost 9.95 per cent to close at N14.39, and Universal Insurance crumbled by 9.60 per cent to N1.13.
Conversely, Secure Electronic Technology gained 9.09 per cent to finish at 96 Kobo, Consolidated Hallmark grew by 8.53 per cent to N4.20, John Holt expanded by 7.94 per cent to N6.80, Cadbury Nigeria jumped by 5.45 per cent to N58.00, and Wema Bank improved by 5.31 per cent to N21.80.
Business Post reports that during the session, the insurance counter lost 4.46 per cent, the consumer goods index declined by 1.32 per cent, the banking space went down by 0.55 per cent, the energy industry crashed by 0.44 per cent, and the commodity sector shrank by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods space increased by 0.23 per cent.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) moderated by 580.48 points to 138,157.16 points from 138,737.64 points and the market capitalisation shed N368 billion to end at N87.416 trillion versus the previous day’s N87.784 trillion.
Market participants transacted 482.8 million units of shares worth N19.7 billion in 28,193 deals at midweek, in contrast to the 407.6 million units valued at N39.9 billion traded in 31,406 deals on Tuesday.
This showed that the trading volume went up by 18.45 per cent, the trading value went down by 50.63 per cent and the number of deals retreated by 10.23 per cent.
Access Holdings was the busiest on Wednesday with a turnover of 43.0 million equities worth N1.1 billion, Fidelity Bank sold 40.1 million shares valued at N843.8 million, GTCO transacted 34.9 million stocks for N3.2 billion, UBA exchanged 33.4 million shares valued at N1.5 billion, and AIICO Insurance traded 29.1 million equities worth N91.6 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices declined by more than 2 per cent on Wednesday as producers under the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) are expected to consider another increase in production targets in October.
Brent crude was down by $1.6 or 2.31 per cent to $67.54 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by $1.68 or 2.56 per cent to $63.91 a barrel.
Eight members that make up a sub-group of OPEC+ will consider further raising oil production at a meeting on Sunday, as the 22-nation group seeks to regain market share.
OPEC+ has reversed its strategy of output cuts from April and has already raised quotas by about 2.5 million barrels per day, about 2.4 per cent of world demand, to boost market share and under pressure from US President Donald Trump to lower oil prices.
Another boost would mean OPEC+, which pumps about half of the world’s oil, would be starting to unwind a second layer of output cuts of about 1.65 million barrels per day, or 1.6 per cent of world demand, more than a year ahead of schedule.
The group had already agreed to raise output targets by about 2.2 million barrels per day from April to September, in addition to a 300,000 barrels per day quota increase for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This constitutes of a 547,000 barrels per day increase for September, completing the total increase in output for the year of 2.5 million barrels per day.
The next output cut layer of 1.65 million barrels per day is in place until the end of 2026, as is another 2 million barrels per day of cuts by the whole group.
It was also reported that there is a minimal chance that OPEC+ could pause the increases for October.
Delayed data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the US rose by 622,000 barrels in the week ending August 22. So far this year, crude oil inventories are up 7.4 million barrels.
Official data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released later on Thursday, since there was a public holiday on Monday in the US.
Pressure also came as US Labor Department data showed on Wednesday that job openings, a measure of labor market demand, fell more than expected to 7.181 million in July. This shows soft economic data which tends to weigh on the demand outlook for oil.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The suspension earlier placed on Universal Insurance Plc, which prevented its shareholders and other investors from trading the company’s shares at the stock market, has been lifted.
The embargo was removed by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, according to a notice signed by Obioma Oge for the Head of Issuer Regulation Department at NGX.
This came about two days after the suspension was first announced in a circular to the investing community over the failure of the underwriting firm and two others (Regency Alliance Insurance and International Energy Insurance) to submit their audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Universal Insurance did the needful after investors could not trade its securities on Customs Street, prompting the management of the exchange to announce resumption in the trading of equities of the organisation.
“The company has now filed its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024 and outstanding unaudited financial statements for 2025.
“In view of the company’s submission of its 2024 AFS, and pursuant to Rule 3.3 of the default filing rules, which states that the suspension of trading in the issuer’s securities shall be lifted upon submission of the relevant accounts provided the exchange is satisfied that the accounts comply with all applicable rules of the exchange. The exchange shall thereafter also announce through the medium by which the public and the SEC was initially notified of the suspension, that the suspension has been lifted.
“Trading License Holders and the investing public are hereby notified that the suspension placed on trading on the shares of Universal Insurance Plc was lifted today,” parts of the disclosure stated.
On Monday, the stock exchange suspended Universal Insurance in compliance with the provisions of Rule 3.1: Rules for Filing of Accounts and Treatment of Default Filing, which provides that if an issuer fails to file the relevant accounts by the expiration of the cure period, the exchange will: a) send to the issuer a second filing deficiency notification within two business days after the end of the cure period; b) suspend trading in the issuer’s securities; and c) notify the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the market within 24 hours of the suspension.
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