SEC to begin new investors’ identification regime

Fri, Mar 20, 2020
By publisher
2 MIN READ

Business Briefs

THE Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, will from April 1 begin the enforcement of a new investors’ identification regime. The regime, according to SEC, is aimed at enhancing transparency in the capital market and forestalls the recurring incidence of unclaimed dividends.

In a circular, SEC stated that no transactions will be effected on any existing investor’s account without updated and validated information as required under the approved know-your-customer, KYC, format for the market. It noted that any stockbroking firm that trades on any such incomplete account shall be sanctioned.

SEC, therefore, directed stockbrokers to capture full information in respect of new clients and update the information of their existing clients. The required information includes bank account details, bank verification number, BVN, telephone number, and email address. “Such information should be validated against the Nigerian Interbank Settlement Systems Limited (NIBSS) BVN validation portal. Brokers should update their Order Management System to enable the system flag off accounts with incomplete KYC information,” SEC stated.

According to the commission, the clearinghouse for the stock market, the Central Securities Clearing System, CSCS, should an editable format of lists clients with incomplete records to stockbrokers for them to update and return such to CSCS. The apex regulator mandated the CSCS to ensure the transmission of full information to the registrars, following transactions while registrars must ensure that new or updated shareholders’ information transmitted to them is properly captured in the relevant company’s register of members.

– Mar. 20, 2020 @ 13:39 GMT |

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