Multiple subscription: Investors consolidate 4.82bn shares

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has consolidated 45,733 multiple accounts involving 4.82 billion shares under its multiple subscription window introduced to eliminate unclaimed dividends in the nation’s capital market.

Mr Alhassan Suleiman, Deputy Director of SEC and Chairman, Multiple Subscription Committee, gave the figure in an interview with our reporter in Lagos.

It was reported that SEC, in 2017, introduced multiple subscription window for investors with multiple shares to regularise their accounts to reduce volume of unclaimed dividends.

Multiple subscriptions to public offers occurred during the market boom when investors used different names to purchase shares to enable them to buy more than permitted units of shares.

Suleiman told our reporter that from inception to the second quarter of 2020, 45,733 multiple accounts had been consolidated involving 4.82 billion units of shares.

“Based on reports submitted by registrars and stockbrokers, from inception to second quarter 2020, a total of 45,733 multiple accounts have so far been consolidated involving 4.823 billion units of shares,” he said.

Suleiman said that efforts were still ongoing to ensure that more investors would embrace the window to regularise and consolidate their portfolios.

He said that the fear of investors being sanctioned had been addressed.

Suleiman said that SEC and the capital market community had carried out enlightenment campaigns to create awareness and encourage investors to embrace the initiative.

He added the commission was engaging relevant agencies and organisations to simplify the process of identification not only for resolving multiple subscriptions but for all processes with the market.

“We worked closely with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc. on the e-Dividend Management System, and we will continue to engage them,” he said.

Suleiman said that SEC had prioritised enhancement of the investor’s experience in the capital market, adding that identity management was critical to achieving it.

He said that Capital Market Operators (CMOs) had been given October 2020 deadline to update ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’ information of their clients to tackle identity issues.

Suleiman said that a KYC depository would be developed by the market after the deadline, to facilitate resolution of some identity-related issues in the market.

“As a starting point, CMOs have been given October 2020 deadline to update KYC information on clients.

“Following this, a KYC depository would be developed by the market to facilitate resolution of some identity-related issues,” he said.