CMC seeks dematerialisation of unlisted firms shares

Given the success recorded on the dematerialisation of listed companies’ shares, the Capital Market Committee (CMC) has stressed the need for the exercise to be replicated in shares of unlisted companies.

Acting Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC), Ms. Mary Uduk, who briefed newsmen at the post Q1 CMC meeting in Lagos, said this is necessary in a bid to deepen the market.

Uduk, who acknowledged the success of the dematerialisation exercise, however, noted that the implementation of this initiative was restricted to shares of listed companies.

Consequently, the CMC is advocating for the extension of the exercise to shares of unlisted public companies to enhance liquidity, ease market processes, sharpen decision making in securities investment, among others.

“Dematerialisation is the process of converting physical shares into electronic format. The Investor surrenders his physical shares and in turn gets electronic shares in his demat account.

“The advantages of dematerialization are many- enabling the investor to trade at any time without necessarily passing through the bottlenecks of verifying the share certificates any longer, because the shares are now domiciled with CSCS,” she said.