TheCable

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it is committed to making the capital market attractive to Nigerians of all ages and economic classes.

Lamido Yuguda, director-general of SEC, said this during a meeting with a team led by Ben Llewellyn-Jones, British deputy high commissioner, in Abuja at the weekend.

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

Last week, MTN Nigeria announced that its 2021 primary offer was oversubscribed by 139 percent, with as many as 6.6 million Nigerians now holding the telco share — directly or indirectly.

The telco giant said 76 percent of successful applicants via digital platforms were women and 85 percent under 40 years old.

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, which according to him, will further deepen the market.

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

“The average age of that account holder was over 50, and that made us realise that the young people were not participating in this market and when young people are not participating in any market, that market is doomed to fail.

“And young people today prefer to do things on their phones, if you have to fill a stack of forms manually young people won’t do it. We want to make investing in the capital market a fun experience.”

He said the process of investing in the capital market begins with a bank account.

“So we decided to look at the whole process and find out what is turning young people off. We have started the process and seen how the tech companies are providing much-needed relief to the kind of bureaucracy that happens in the capital market,” he said.

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

According to him, the e-offer for MTN 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 commission has observed 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 said with the e-offer initiative, many Nigerians would be happy to invest in the capital market and not illegal schemes.

Yuguda added that the SEC, in its drive to attract more people to the market, is focusing on a proper identity management system which would also aid in the reduction of the issue of unclaimed dividends.

On his part, Llewellyn-Jones emphasised the need for the SEC to create more alternative investment options for all classes of people.