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SEC takes e-Dividend campaign to Lagos

By Editor
03 February 2016   |   2:47 am
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has concluded plans to take the next e-Dividend registration campaign, which is currently ongoing within the country, to Lagos. The Lagos campaign would commence from February 8 to 11, with a three-day road show. Last month, the commission embarked on a robust campaign to sensitise members of the investing…

Securities-and-Exchange-Commission

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has concluded plans to take the next e-Dividend registration campaign, which is currently ongoing within the country, to Lagos.
The Lagos campaign would commence from February 8 to 11, with a three-day road show.

Last month, the commission embarked on a robust campaign to sensitise members of the investing public on the ongoing e-dividend registration and other initiatives for the implementation of the 10- year capital market master plan.

According to a statement by the commission, the aim of the campaign was to eradicate the difficulties faced by retail investors in claiming their dividends.

The SEC had last year July, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) launched the e-payment platform and advised investors and all shareholders in the capital market to approach their banks/registrars to obtain an e-Dividend Mandate form for immediate processing and upload to the e-Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS).

The Director- General, SEC Mounir Gwarzo described the e-Dividend platform as a game changer in the market that would ensure that infractions are reduced to the barest minimum level.

The DG expressed satisfaction with the level of success recorded so far as a result of the on-going enlightenment campaign, while urging investors to take advantage of the services and visit their Bank/Registrars to be advised accordingly on the registration process.

“We have all agreed that this is the way to go. It is now left for the investors to go and register. All stakeholders are to be registered free in the first 90 days, after which a fine of N100 will be imposed. Once the e-dividend is in place, the issue of stale warrant and the travelling of investors from one place to another for the purpose of depositing the warrant would be a thing of the past.

“The issue of unclaimed dividend according to our records, which is in excess of N80 Million will reduce and eventually become a thing of the past. These unclaimed dividends came about from dividends of small stakeholders like you and me and we need to ensure that they are claimed.”

He added that once the registration process is over, the next phase would be to look into claims by investors who have dividends that are less than 12 years old, adding that once the registrars can certify that the claimers are the owners, payment will be made, and gradually the SEC will address the problems of unclaimed dividends.

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