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NSE suspends 37 dealing members for operating without Compliance Officers

By BusinessNews Staff on September 29, 2014

In its resolve to stamp out sharp practices from the nation’s capital market, the Nigerian Stock Exchange has suspended 37 dealing member firms for operating without compliance officers.
The suspension, which dated September 15, was conveyed in a statement posted on the website of the NSE last week.
The NSE Broker Trax listed the affected firms as AAA Securities Limited; Alliance Capital Management Company Limited; BFCL Asset & Securities Limited; BIC Securities Limited; CEB Securities Limited; Colvia Securities Limited; Consolidated Investment Limited; Dakal Services Limited; Empire Securities Limited; Epic Investment Trust Limited; Equator Stockbrokers Limited and First Atlantic Securities Limited.
Others include Folu Securities Limited; Genesis Securities& Investment Limited; Ideal Securities Limited; Indemnity Finance Ltd; Mannivest Securities Limited; Metropolitan Trust Nigeria Limited; Midland Capital Markets Limited; Midlands Investment & Trust Limited; ML Securities Limited; Monument Securities & Finance Limited; Omas Investment & Trust Company Limited and Professional Stockbrokers Limited.
The affected firms also include Prudential Securities Limited; Regency Financing Limited; RIV Trust Securities Limited; Riverside Trust Limited; Securities Solutions Limited; Securities Trading & Inv. Co;
Sikon Securities and Investment Trust Limited; Transglobe Investment & Finance Company Limited; Tropics Securities Limited; Wema Asset Management Limited; WT Securities Limited; Zuma Securities Limited and Bauchi Investment Corp. Sec Limited.
Article 15, Section C of the Exchange rules and regulations governing the dealing members states that a dealing member firm shall at all times have one or more compliance officers who shall be identified to the exchange and competent to advise the member firm and its employees on the application of these rules and shall report to the exchange any legal violation within 24 hours of their knowledge of such violation and propose the appropriate remedy thereto.
It added that the compliance officers shall also be responsible for ensuring that money laundering training programmes are administered on persons qualified to conduct business on behalf of the firm.
The punitive measures was coming on the heels of similar crackdown on erring firms by the apex regulatory authorities in the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which suspended Maven Assets Management Limited, its directors and sponsored individuals from all stock market activities.
The suspension, according to a statement from SEC, was sequel to the operator’s failure to carry out its investors’ mandate to purchase 200,000 units of National Sport Lottery Plc’s shares during the company’s 2008 public offering for which it collected N3.1 million.
The commission, therefore, warned intending investors to desist from engaging the aforementioned operator in any capital market transactions pending when the firm’s suspension is lifted.
Meanwhile, the commission also announced that Liberty Assets Management Limited is not registered by the SEC to carry-out any transaction in the Nigerian capital market.
“Information available to the commission confirmed that the illegal operator has been operating at No. 327 Oron Road, (upstairs), opposite Akwaette filling station, Uyo, and at room 30, Ikot Ekpene local government’s stall, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.
“Members of the public are therefore, warned to desist from carrying out any capital market transactions with Liberty Assets Management Limited,” SEC warned.
Recently, the commission gave its commitment to whistle blowing mechanism in the Nigerian capital market as a way of checkmating abuses by both operators and regulators.
According to a capital market analyst, Andy Essien, as the Nigerian capital market moves to recapture its enviable status as one of the fastest growing bazaars in the world, the role of effective regulatory framework to whip the market into the desired path can only be ignored to the chagrin of the entire economy.
He said contrary to the so many excuses touted for the recent near collapse of the Nigerian capital market, including the global financial crisis, macro-economic instability, it was the inadequate regulatory framework that failed to enforce the rules of the capital market that made the Nigerian economy vulnerable.
He said inadequate disclosure by listed companies and broker/dealer firms meant that reports to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the investing public were often inaccurate, late or simply not submitted.
“This prevented market access to critical information that is required in making informed investment decisions,” he stated.