The Securities and Exchange Commission has described the licensing of FMDQ Holdings Plc as a full-fledged securities exchange as a good competition for the capital market.
The acting Director-General, SEC, Ms Mary Uduk, speaking at a press briefing after the second quarter Capital Market Committee Meeting in Lagos, said FMDQ’s licensing would create choices for market operators to choose from.
She said, “Competition is good for the market; we expect other similar cases to follow.
“FMDQ’s licence creates the kind of competition that will bring down cost and improve efficiency in the capital market. It is a welcome development to the market and it shows that the market is growing.”
Uduk also revealed that the commission recorded a total of 3.4 billion regularised accounts of investors who previously managed multiple accounts.
She stated that most investors had bought shares in various names during initial public offers and were unable to claim such dividends since the introduction of Bank Verification Number and other systems.
Uduk said the situation had brought about an increase in the volume of unclaimed dividends, which pushed the commission to put measures in place to tackle it.
In 2018, SEC launched the regularisation of multiple shareholders accounts and the e-Dividend Mandate Management System to tackle unclaimed dividends.
Uduk expressed satisfaction with the regularisation of multiple shareholders accounts, describing investors’ response as very impressive as a total of 2.7 million share accounts had been captured under the e-DMMS.
According to her, with the help of the multiple subscription committee, 3.4 billion shares have so far been effectively consolidated.
She said, “The committee informed the meeting that the Committee of Heads of Banking Operations had agreed to collaborate with the commission to display banners in (their) banking halls all over the country, sensitising the public to the regularisation of multiple subscriptions of shares.
“Similarly, stockbrokers and registrars are requested to make available to the committee on multiple subscription account, on a periodic basis, the number of regularised accounts.”