Unclaimed dividend sets tone for capital market conference

Unclaimed dividend and investor education are some of the issues to be discussed as capital market regulators, organisation, operators, and investors gather on Thursday in Lagos at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, for the 4th edition of BusinessDay Annual Capital Market Conference.

Arunma Oteh, director-general of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) will be the special guest of honour at the conference, themed West African Capital Market Integration: Challenges & Opportunities for Nigerian Businesses.

At the second quarter Capital Market Committee media briefing in Lagos on Wednesda, Oteh had solicited the assistance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in persuading commercial banks to accept dividend warrants into savings account to manage the high level of unclaimed dividends in the country.

The conference will also focus on understanding the roles of each stakeholder in the build-up to an integrated market, inherent opportunities of an integrated regional market, as well as perceivable challenges, and will proffer solutions to the challenges.

The conference will seek to assist participants/stakeholders in understanding their roles in the entire scenario and seek to help participants understand the opportunities in an integrated regional market by highlighting the initial challenges for Nigerian businesses and fashion ways to mitigate them.

Invited speakers/panelists include: Oscar Onyema, CEO, Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE); Ekow Afedzie, deputy managing director, Ghana Stock Exchange; Fola Daniel, commissioner for insurance, Nigerian Insurance Commission (NAICOM); Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, acting director-general, National Pension Commission (PenCom), and Bola Onadele Koko, chief executive officer, FMDQ.

Other invited speakers/panelists are Albert Okumagba, president/chairman in council, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers; Bolaji Balogun, chairman, Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria; Emeka Madubuike, chairman, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria; Bayo Olugbemi, president, Institute of Capital Market Registrars; and Adeyemi Johnson, CEO, Open Space Compliance Consultants Limited.

Also expected are managing directors/CEOs of listed companies on the NSE, the leadership team of SEC and NSE, senate and house committee chairmen on capital market, CEOs of issuing and stockbroking houses, registrars, pension fund administrators, investment banks, fund managers, insurance companies and investors.