SEC removes deadline for multiple shares accounts regularisation

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has suspended the regularisation deadline put in place for shareholders that opened multiple accounts for the purchase of shares with different names.

This was part of the decisions reached on Thursday at the third capital market committee (CMC) meeting that held in Lagos.

Mary Uduk, SEC’s acting director-general, said this would enable shareholders having challenges with their details to come up and regularize their holdings, adding that the commission has discovered that some shareholders are avoiding the process for fear of prosecution.

“The multiple subscription committee presented the status of its ongoing engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the committee of heads of banking operation to display multiple accounts regularization banners in the banking halls all over the country,” a statement by Efe Ebelo, SEC’s head of corporate communications, quoted Uduk to have said.

“The committee also reported that CMOs have commenced the filing of reports on regularized accounts with the commission, on a quarterly basis. Given the relevance of this exercise and the need to create more awareness, the committee requested an extension of the deadline of multiple accounts regularization.

“We are keeping it open for now with no deadline. We are also encouraging investors to take advantage of this to regularise their accounts and claim their dividends.”

According to Uduk, other resolutions reached in the meeting includes are that registrars are to discontinue the practice of requesting for confirmation of bank signature during the E-DMMS process, CMOs are to display awareness campaign banners of e-DMMS at their offices and venue of annual general meetings (AGM).

Uduk also said that the commission is engaging the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) on modalities that would permit pension fund administrators (PFAs) to participate in securities lending.