We will make capital market attractive to all age groups, says Yuguda

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reiterated its commitment to ensuring that the nation’s capital market is attractive to all age groups and economic classes.

Director-General of the SEC, Lamido Yuguda, stated this during a meeting with a team led by the British Deputy High Commissioner, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, in Abuja at the weekend.

Yuguda said the commission is implementing various initiatives to ensure that products and offerings in the market are accessible to both the young and old to deepen the market.

He expressed worry that the average age of account holders in the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) was over 50, an indication that young people are not participating in the market.

“When we assumed office, we were shocked to know that the average age of the CSCS account holder was over 50 years. The CSCS is a depository, so, if you are investing in equities, you must have a CSCS account.

“When young people are not participating in any market, that market is doomed to fail. Young people today prefer to do things on their phones, if you have to fill a stack of forms manually, young people will not do it.

“We want to make investing in the capital market a fun experience. The capital market experience starts with a bank account, we have decided to look at the whole process and find out what is turning young people off and we have started the process.”

Yuguda disclosed that the recently approved e-offer for MTN witnessed increased patronage from Nigerians, especially the younger age bracket.

According to him, the process is one of the steps, among other initiatives already outlined, to make investing in the capital market a much better experience for investors both young and old.

He said the experience has shown that when people do not have access to interesting products in a regulated market, they tend to patronise Ponzi schemes and the parallel market.

He assured that the commission would do everything within its powers to attract this group of investors to the regulated market to deepen the nation’s bourse.

Yuguda also stated that the commission, in its drive to promote market development, is currently focusing on a proper identity management system, which would also stem the rising unclaimed dividends in the capital market.

In his remarks, Llewellyn-Jones stressed the need for the SEC to create more alternative options for investments for all classes of people as one of the ways of pulling people away from unregulated space.