SEC begins implementation of report on commodities market development — official

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it has commenced the implementation of the report of its Technical Committee on Commodities Trading Ecosystem.

The Acting Executive Commissioner (Operations) of SEC, Mr Isyaku Tilde, disclosed this when a delegation of the Commodity Brokers Association of Nigeria (CBAN) led by its Registrar, Alhaji Saleh Kwaru, visited the Commission in Abuja on Wednesday.

The  News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the committee’s report, published on SEC’s website, contains no fewer than 40 recommendations on how to revive the nation’s commodities market.

One of the recommendations, according to Tilde is capacity building of stakeholders and the public on commodities exchange to bridge existing knowledge gap.

Tilde, who represented the commission’s Acting Director-General,  Mrs Mary Utuk, said that SEC was ready to partner with CBAN in that regard.

“The aim of SEC is to have an efficient commodities exchange because right now that sector of the capital market is dormant.

“Part of the issues that the committee is trying to address is capacity building and public enlightenment campaigns.

“I believe that part of the things CBAN is doing is capacity building, which is one area where we can collaborate going forward,” he said.

Earlier, the CBAN Registrar said the association started 13 years, and currently had 800 members certified by the Nigeria Commodities Exchange (NCX) to provide training.

Kwaru said, “We have been training people since 2009. We currently have 800  members, 15 of whom are SEC staff members.

“Today, we have close to 200 commodities brokers registered with NCX., and with this, we are set to operate on the floor of the NCX as soon as its trading platform is ready.

“We are here to seek your support as the regulator, because we learnt there are other administrative processes that the brokers have to undergo to be licensed by SEC.”he said.

He also solicited the commission’s support for CBAN’s push to secure presidential assent to the Chartered Institute of Commodity Brokers Association of Nigeria (CICBN).

Kwaru commended SEC for developing the Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan, and for registering two private commodities exchanges to open up the market.

The two private markets in question are Afex Commodities Exchange, which started operations in 2014, and the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange, whose final approval came earlier this month.

-NAN