The Director-General, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo, has urged companies to enlist with the exchange.
A statement by the Head of Corporate Communications of SEC, Naif Abdussalam, on Thursday in Abuja, quoted Gwarzo ss saying this when Fidelis Anosike, Chairman and Publisher of Daily Times Nigeria, visited him in Abuja.
He said one of the challenges the commission had in the market was that the market was not deep.
“The banking sector constitutes significant portion of the market, hence the moment there is a drop in that sector, it affects the market.
“If these companies list should there be a drop in the banking sector, it will not significantly affect the entire market.”
Gwarzo said Daily Times was a major stakeholder in the industry given its long standing record and archive of data.
He noted that it was a moral obligation to do right things, adding that although the stake was very high, he would protect the institution and investors.
On the recent initiatives by SEC, Gwarzo said they were geared to raise the participation of retail investor and ultimately provide comfort and enhance confidence in the market.
He named some of them to include e-Dividend registration, Dematerialisation, Direct Cash Settlement, National Investor Protection Fund (NIPF), advocacies and widening the product range.
Gwarzo also called on stakeholders like Daily Times to cooperate to propagate the issue of Sukuk, stating that a programme had been slated for March 14th in Sokoto on the matter.
Earlier, Anosike commended efforts of the SEC Director-General and expressed the need for a collaborative partnership with the SEC.
He said his organisation supported whatever SEC was doing in the best interest of investors in the market to ensure that Nigeria had one of the best markets in the world.
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