SEC: Proliferation of Illegal Operators Major Concern In Capital Market 

Kayode Tokede

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stated that the persisted proliferation of operators moving amerciable concern schemes successful the state continues to beryllium a large captious interest to the superior market.

Director General of the SEC Mr. Lamido Yuguda who stated this successful a New Year Message successful Abuja, truthful assured of a renewed onslaught against promoters of specified schemes.

Yuguda said that past twelvemonth alone, the Commission sealed disconnected the offices of 4 specified amerciable operators that had defrauded guiltless citizens of billions of naira and assured that the Commission volition proceed its enforcement actions to guarantee that specified amerciable entities are not allowed to operate.

According to him, “The SEC has been warring a superior warfare against Ponzi schemes, we person been alerting people. We person said that investors should lone woody with registered operators that person the registration of the Commission, we person their database connected the SEC website and we person ever said that if you spell to an relation oregon erstwhile an relation approaches you, you indispensable corroborate that helium is simply a licensed relation with the SEC.”

On immoderate of the achievements of the Commission successful the past year, Yuguda disclosed that connected Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), successful bid to comply with the requirements of some the GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report(MER) Follow-Up Process and the FATF International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) requirements to debar Nigeria being placed connected the FATF nationalist grey database astatine the Plenary aft the deadline successful October, 2022, the Commission approved the Rules and Regulations of the Virtual Asset Service providers b. Amendments of the assemblage circumstantial regulations to repeal the 2013 SEC AML/CFT Regulations and enactment of the 2022 AML/CFT Regulations.

On Fintech, the DG stated that the Commission volition prosecute assorted initiatives, including sensitization programmes connected Crowdfunding adding that to further fortify and promote developments successful the Fintech space, the Commission resuscitated the Regulatory Incubation programme during the year.