Capital market registrars strategise to increase investor participation

The Institute of Capital Market Registrars (ICMR) is to unfold new strategies that will increase retail participation by leveraging digital technology to boost market accessibility.

The President & Chairman of Council, ICMR, Mr Oluseyi Owoturo, said this in a statement made available to our reporter on Monday in Lagos.

Owoturo said the new strategies became imperative given the fact that even with four million investors in the capital market, potential investors continued to fall prey to Ponzi schemes.

“Even with the over four million investors in the capital market compared to 50.9 million BVN holders in the banking system, potential investors continued to fall prey to Ponzi schemes.

“There are, indeed, huge opportunities in repositioning the capital market by leveraging digital technology to make the market easily accessible, solve the inefficiencies impacting investor experience, and to improve investor confidence.

“The time to leverage the huge potential in the Nigerian technology space to change the narrative of the capital market, create wealth for investors, and provide funding for sustainable growth is now,” Owoturo said.

He said the ICMR would hold 2021 annual conference with the theme: “Reinventing the Nigerian Capital Market for Growth: The Digital Technology Approach,” on Nov. 27, at the Lagos Oriental Hotel.

“The objective is to ensure that the new combinations of talent and technology are delivering decisive advances and value in investor experience and operational efficiency.

“We expect digital technology to drive positive outcomes in streamlining processes, harnessing data and shaping entirely new ways of doing business,” said Owoturo.

According to him, it is expected that the outcome of the conference will reposition the Nigerian capital market for growth by creating a capital market that is attractive to investors and able to support the long-term investment needs across the private and public sectors of the economy.

“We are confident that by addressing the scourge of unclaimed dividends, the need for shared market infrastructure, and the changing role of regulators, the discourse in the conference will galvanise the drive towards repositioning the Nigerian capital market for sustainable growth,” Owoturo said.

According to him, Mr Lamido Yuguda, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, will be the keynote speaker.

Other speakers are: Mr Bukar Kyari, the Managing Director/CEO Africa Operations of Inlaks Plc, Mr.John Obaro, the Managing Director/CEO of SystemSpecs Ltd., and Ms Tinuade Awe, the Chief Executive Officer, NGX Regulations Ltd.