SEC To Reduce N190bn Unclaimed Dividends With New Portal

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has unveiled plans to create a new e-dividend portal that would help simplify the process of mandating accounts in the capital market.

The director-general of SEC, Lamido Yuguda stated this at the Commission two days Journalists’ training held in Lagos.

Unclaimed dividend figure rose to N190 billion in August 2023 from N180 billion as at December 2021 and N170 billion in 2020. The apex capital market regulator has put several measures in place to eradicate the difficulties encountered by retail investors in claiming their dividends through their savings accounts, especially the introduction of the e-Dividend Management Mandate System (e-DMMS).

According to Yuguda,  to help solve the perennial problem of unclaimed dividends, the Capital Market Committee, under the leadership of the Commission has embarked on the creation of a new e-dividend portal, which is expected to become operational on November 30, 2023.

“Once operational, this portal will simplify the process of mandating accounts for e-dividend. This will improve efficiency and ultimately lead to a significant fall in unclaimed dividends.”

He added that in furtherance of its efforts to ensure that new dividends do not become unclaimed, the Commission is presently supporting work on an identity management system that would ensure that investors and market participants are properly identified so as to forestall the problems that led to accumulation of unclaimed dividends.

Speaking to journalists, Yuguda stated that “over the next two days, this program will offer you an opportunity to delve into the core workings, regulations, and innovations that shape the financial sector, particularly the capital market. Our primary goal is to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to accurately and effectively report on these critical aspects.”

He noted further that over the past four years, the Commission has done a lot to improve the Nigerian capital market, leading to reasonable success and increasing the size and depth of the market.

He added that SEC has a 10-year Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) which is targeted at taking the market to the desired destination by 2025.

SEC DG explained that to manage risk and entrench trust in collective investment schemes (CIS), the Commission mandated that all CIS funds be held in custody.

“This has helped the growth of these funds from about N1.1 trillion at the beginning of 2020 to about N2.1 trillion at the end of October 2023.

We continue to encourage investors, especially those on the retail end, to approach the market through these CIS funds, as they provide investors with the opportunity to have their investments managed by knowledgeable investment professionals,” he stated.

He emphasised that “our nation has a huge infrastructure deficit. It is also obvious that this deficit cannot be bridged using the national budget. It is our belief that the only viable source of financing this deficit is private capital through the capital market.

“This is why we are doing our best to put the necessary factors in place for infrastructure financing.”