The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria on Thursday announced that it had initiated moves to rebuild the E-Dividend Management Mandate System (e-DMMS) platform as a strategic step towards reducing unclaimed dividends in the nation’s capital market.
The commission’s Director-General, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, who gave this hint in Abuja, said that the initiative was informed by the adoption of some measures by the Capital Market Committee (CMC) to increase the number of mandated investors on the e-DMMS and reduce the quantum of unclaimed dividends in the capital market
Yuguda explained that the e-dividend Committee had been working on the platform and concluded plans to have it rebuilt.
He further clarified that rebuilding the platform would involves having a centralized submission of E-dividend mandate forms, an Application Programming Interface (API) for Banks and Registrars, and a revamped web interface, among others.
The capital market regulator recalled that the SEC’s management had invested a lot of resources and embarked on various programmes on investor education to ensure that investors mandate their accounts to enable them to receive the benefits of their investment in the capital market.
On why unclaimed dividends remained a challenge, Yuguda said: “The reason why the number may not be reducing as expected is that a lot of investors have not mandated their accounts. Dividends are now distributed electronically, so dividends go directly into the investor’s account and if everybody mandates their accounts there would be few unclaimed dividends in the system.
“This process is still open and can be done with the registrars, forms can be obtained from the banks too and it’s a very simple process. We also have on our website a tool that assists investors to determine any unclaimed dividends that they have. And I would encourage everyone to take advantage of these tools or to directly speak to the complaints section of the SEC and we would guide that person appropriately”, he added.
The Director-General thanked the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions on Unclaimed Dividends over its efforts to investigate the rising value of unclaimed dividends and un-remitted withholding tax on dividends.
Yuguda restated the Commission’s readiness to provide all the necessary support to the Committee to enable it to carry out its assignment.
He, however, urged all stakeholders in the financial sector, especially capital market investors, to collectively work towards the enactment of the Investments and Securities Bill 2022 in order to enhance the performance of the capital market and align its operations with global best practices.
