By Chioma Obinagwam
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC), Nigeria’s apex capital market regulator, has said that it is set to begin the reduction of transaction cost on the country’s Stock Exchange.
The Director General(DG) of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, disclosed at a press briefing held in respect of the first quarter (Q1) Capital Market Committee(CMC) meeting in Lagos.
He noted that the reduction will begin with the pilot phase, which will last for one year.
“The reduction in cost is going to be used as a pilot. What we agreed yesterday was let’s try the reduction in cost for one year. We have templates that we are going to use. What we are doing is to see how we can reduce cost,” he noted.
On crowd funding, he noted that the rules would be released as soon as the limitation with Companies and Allied Matters Act(CAMA) is addressed.
He emphasized that the changes that are being made with regards to the e- dividend mandate is not to deny anyone their investments but to, among other things, reduce the number of unclaimed dividend in the country as well as boost liquidity in the capital market.
The apex capital market regulator further disclosed that Direct Cash Settlement would commence on September 1, 2017 whereas SEC’s underwriting of the e-dividend mandate would and issuance of dividend warrant will end on June 30, 2017.