SEC gives investors June 3 deadline to submit bank details

Worried by the alarming growth rate of unclaimed dividends among quoted companies in the country, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has directed shareholders and investors of public compani3es to forward their bank account details to their registrars and stockbrokers by June 3, 2013.

This, the commission said in a circular, is to facilitate the electronic payment of future dividends.

The SEC Director-General, Ms. Arunma Oteh, last month put the value of unclaimed dividend by investors in the country’s capital market at N60 billion by December 31, 2012, representing N19 billion or 46 per cent rise over the N41 billion recorded at the end of preceding year.

According to the SEC circular, signed by the “management” and made available by Proshareng.com, the commission expressed confidence “that the introduction of the e-dividend payment system would reduce4 to the barest minimum the accumulation of unclaimed dividends promptly, thereby improving confidence in the market.”

The move may not be unconnected with insinuations among operators that with the coming of another dividend distribution season, the value of such that remain unclaimed may balloon to N50 billion by this year.

The decision to enforce the e-dividend service is therefore seen as part of efforts to ensure that the quantum of such unclaimed dividends reduce drastically, rather than bloat.

[Daily Independent]

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