The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said it would sanction stakeholders whose actions were frustrating its efforts toward reducing the volume of unclaimed dividends.
Its director-general, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, said this at a post Capital Market Committee (CMC) news conference Friday in Abuja.
Yuguda lamented that despite the Commission’s efforts in ensuring Electronic Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS), investors had continued to lament the delay in the payment of their e-dividends.
According to him, a lot of investors have yet to mandate their account to be able to receive their dividends.
Yuguda said unclaimed dividends as at 2021 stood at N177 billion, which was higher than the 2020 figure of N168 billion.
“Capital market operators must also do more to demonstrate through their activities, an efficient capital market system that prioritises the interest of investors. As part of our efforts to stem the tide of activities of unregistered crowd funding platforms, the commission warned the operators of these platforms that they stand the chance of being prosecuted,” he said.
The director-general also said the Commission had obtained donor funding to acquire and deploy securities market surveillance system.
He said the Commission would continue to engage the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to deepen the commodities ecosystem.
