• Gives June 30 Deadline
As part of its reform aimed at strengthening market resilience and investor protection, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has raised minimum capital requirements across Nigeria’s capital market, setting new thresholds of N7 billion for issuing houses offering underwriting services.
 
The commission also set N2 billion for non-underwriting issuing houses and N2 billion for trustees. In a circular on Friday, the commission said the upward review was informed by the need to align regulatory capital with the scope, complexity and risk exposure of regulated activities, while also promoting market stability, mitigating systemic risk and supporting innovation, including in digital assets and commodities markets.
  
The new framework applies to all entities regulated by the SEC, covering core and non-core capital market operators, market infrastructure institutions, capital market consultants, financial technology operators, virtual asset service providers and commodity market intermediaries.
 
With the new minimum capital, brokers handling client execution are now required to maintain minimum capital of N600 million, up from N200 million, while dealers engaged in proprietary trading must hold N1 billion, up from the previous N100 million.
 
Also, broker-dealers offering combined services, including margin lending and advisory, will now need N2 billion, up from N300 million, while inter-dealer brokers are required to maintain N2 billion, compared with N50 million previously.
 
For fund and portfolio management, tier-one portfolio managers with assets under management above N20 billion must now hold N5 billion, an increase from N150 million, while tier-two managers are required to maintain N2 billion. The capital base for private equity fund managers has been raised to N500 million, while venture capital fund managers will now require N200 million.
 
Beyond issuing houses and trustees, the review also raised the capital base for registrars to N2.5 billion and for rating agencies to N500 million, up from N150 million. Underwriters are now required to maintain N5 billion. Corporate investment advisers are expected to hold between N5 million and N50 million, while individual investment advisers will require between N2 million and N10 million.
 
Market infrastructure institutions were also affected, with central counterparties now required to maintain N10 billion, clearing and settlement companies N5 billion and composite securities exchanges N10 billion.

For digital asset operators, the SEC introduced fresh capital thresholds, requiring digital asset exchanges and digital asset custodians to maintain N2 billion each, while digital asset offering platforms will require N1 billion. Among fintech operators, robo-advisers are now required to hold N100 million, up from N10 million, while crowdfunding intermediaries must maintain N200 million, compared with N100 million previously.
 
Commodity market intermediaries also face higher thresholds, with warehousing operators now required to maintain up to N500 million and collateral management companies with national or international reach required to hold N500 million, up from N50 million. Capital requirements for capital market consultants were revised to N25 million for corporate entities from N5 million, N2 million for individuals from N500,000 and N10 million for partnerships from N2 million.
 
The SEC said all affected entities are expected to meet the revised minimum capital requirements on or before June 30, 2027, adding that any operator that fails to comply within the stipulated timeframe risks regulatory sanctions, including the suspension or withdrawal of registration, as determined by the commission.
  
The commission noted that transitional arrangements may be considered on a case-by-case basis upon application, where justified. It also stated that detailed guidance on compliance procedures and capital verification will be issued separately as the circular takes effect from the date of its publication.