Six thousand investors register on e-dividend portal- DG SEC

Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC), Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, revealed on Wednesday that only 6,000 investors have registered on e-dividend portal since the inception last year, as against projections of one million e-dividend registrations.

Aaccording to him, “We are still having issues in respect of e-dividend registration. The report we got recently was very discouraging. Only about 6,000 domestic investors have registered for the e-dividend,” he said, while observing that there were issues with Registrars and Banks as they have not come to an agreement on the modalities,” he said.

Gwarzo, while briefing the press on the key developments and deliberations made during the second quarter Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting, explained that SEC was working closely with the banks and registrars nationwide to boost the e-dividend registration process in the country.

To tackle the issue, the SEC DG explained that a meeting has been held with all the bank representatives and registrars where it was agreed that both parties appoint e-dividend champions that would help drive the process effectively.

Gwarzo further explained that on its part, the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS), commitment has been made to assist both party in clarifications when required for the e-dividend registration.

Speaking further,  Gwarzo said by June 30th, 2017 no registrar will issue dividend warrant again in the country, signalling the era of e-dividend. In view of this, he announced that SEC will underwrite the cost of e-dividend registration till December, 2016.

He, however, called for maximum support from the media in the area of awareness/sensitization of the pubic on the gains and essence of the e-dividend registration.