Aig-Imoukhuede optimistic on compliance with new capital base

The President of the National Council the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede  has affirmed that the extension of the deadline on  new capital requirement  for capital market operators by the Securities and Exchange Commission would enable operator  to comply and  meet up with the September 2015  deadline.

NSE president, while fielding questions from journalists during the 2014 yearly general meeting of the Exchange in Lagos recently said: “I think the SEC was very magnanimous in extending the deadline from December 2014 due to the oil price crash and other events of 2014 to give our members a bit more time to get themselves ready for minimum capital.

“The nine months extension ends in September, and it is my believe that by then, members of the exchange, broker dealers etc., would have done what is necessary to meet the capital requirements. Our View at the NSE is that the stronger and capitalised the members are, the better and stronger the market becomes, and so we are endorsing it wholly.

He assured stakeholders that the management of the Exchange on its side would not relent on efforts to ensure that the NSE becomes more competitive in the global market.

“Prior to 2015, the focus was about making sure that the pillars and foundation of a strong and modern exchange were in place, that is strong Governance, strong framework, cutting edge technology, excellent management team.

All these have been largely addressed. “We are very keen to make sure that the enabling environment is one that is attractive to investors in all respect. You may have noticed that the exchange is much stronger where advocacy is concerned, we are working particularly with the government on the area of economic policy and this is to ensure that the government is well aware that financial markets are critical to the successful implementation of government policies.

“The financial market, particularly the stock exchange stands ready to help actualize the dream of Nigeria as one of the world’s most powerful economies,” he added. SEC, had on December 19, 2013 issued a new capital requirement for capital market operators with December 31, 2014 as deadline for operators to recapitalize.

But the deadline was extended to Sept. 30, 2015 by the commission in December 2014 following pressure and protest of some stockbrokers. The Director-General, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Mounir Gwarzo, had recently told the capital make stakeholders that September 30 deadline for new minimum capital for market operators would not be extended again. Gwarzo explained that the commission had no plans to extend the new deadline saying that the deadline ‘has come to stay’.

The acting director-general said that the new minimum capital for market operators would be implemented accordingly. “The deadline is still September and progress is being made, the level of compliance has gone up but we are determined to keep to that September 30,no shaking, no going back. “There is no going back and we are happy the way we are receiving responses from all the capital market operators,” he added.