Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday said the June 30, 2017 deadline for cessation of dividend warrants in Nigeria remains sacrosanct, urging shareholders to take advantage of the ongoing free registration for e-dividend.
The Commission also said the Nigerian capital market will commence the full and compulsory implementation of the Direct Cash Settlement (DCS) on September 1, 2017.
Under the DCS, the stock market will transit from the current stockbroker-mediated payment system under which proceeds of shares sales are remitted to the stockbroker for onward remittance to the investor to a new system under which payment will be made directly to the investor’s account.
Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mounir Gwarzo, at a media briefing on the resolutions at the Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting, said more than 2.3 million accounts have so far been mandated for the electronic dividend payment while stakeholders have renewed their commitments to step up efforts towards the transition.
He urged all quoted companies to initiate programmes to educate their shareholders on the benefits of the e-dividend, adding that the issue of e-dividend should be one of the topics of discussions at annual general meetings.
He said the Commission and other capital market stakeholders have decided to grant a reprieve to shareholders that had used their names in several forms to make multiple subscriptions for shares to consolidate those shares under a single personal identity.
According to him, investors who joggled their names for the purpose of multiple subscriptions would be given a forbearance period of six months within which they can lay claims to both their shares and accruing dividends subject to establishment of their identity and a verification process by the SEC.
However, shareholders that could not present valid identity and verifiable evidence and those persons that use false, non-existent names to buy shares would forfeit such shares and accruing dividends, which shall all be transferred to the proposed Nigerian Capital Market Development Fund (NCDMF).
