As Nigeria’s financial ecosystem adapts to enhanced regulatory frameworks, technological advancement and global best practices, the Association of Corporate Trustees (ACT) has urged stronger regulatory reforms, especially regarding trusteeship.

At its yearly conference, which brought together regulators, legal practitioners, financial institutions and governance experts, the members examined the evolving landscape of trusteeship within a rapidly transforming regulatory environment.

Themed, ‘A New Legal Order: Corporate Trustees at the Intersection of Regulatory Reforms’, the event provided a timely platform to explore the impact of ongoing reforms in relation to fiduciary responsibilities, investor protection, strengthening the integrity of the capital market through compliance in line with global standards, cross-border investment monitoring, and institutional accountability.

Other key issues highlighted included KYC and due diligence, taxes, infrastructure bond investments, and recent recapitalisation efforts in the financial sector, among others.

ACT president, Omolola Iyinolakan, noted that there have been multiple interceptions of various political and financial reforms that corporate trustees have had to adopt while executing their fiduciary responsibilities.

“Trustees are actually at the intersection of a lot of reforms, but I dare say that it is not just the corporate trustees. The reforms we have seen over the last year do not affect the capital market alone; it has had a ripple effect on the entire populace. This conference explored robust conversations that addressed our concerns and a lot of questions answered around market recapitalisation, shifting tax frameworks and evolving compliance rules”, she noted.