‘Electronic Offering Will Reduce Unclaimed Dividends, Attract More Investors’

‘Electronic Offering Will Reduce Unclaimed Dividends, Attract More Investors’

Goddy Egene

The acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Mary Uduk, has said the introduction of electronic offering(e-offering) in the Nigerian capital market will help solve the problems of unclaimed dividends.
According to Uduk, ahead of the planned e-offering, the rules have already been developed and exposed to the market.

She said: “We believe that electronic offerings will help solve the problems of unclaimed dividends so it’s something we are backing seriously. Through electronic offerings we will not have the problems of identity as we had in previous listings. It has a lot of advantages, it means that people who are not close by during an offering can invest, we are able to get the data we need for regulation, the offering is more efficient and it is cost saving. It is something we are working on; the rules will soon be out for everyone to use.”

According to her, when it becomes operational, an investor in Ghana or South Africa can invest in the Nigerian capital market without necessarily being in Nigeria.

“That is the idea but when the exchanges finish putting it together that is what will happen. Ours is to make the rules and regulate, but that’s the idea. We want to open up our market so that more people can invest from different parts of the world.

“We want a deeper, bigger, more attractive market. We think our economy is big enough to have a much bigger market. The capital market makes up less than 10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. If you look at other countries even South Africa, it is over 100 percent of GDP. We believe we have a large room for expansion and that is what we are pursuing” Uduk stated.

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