The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stressed the need for tax incentives to woo multinationals to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Mounir Gwarzo, the SEC Director-General, who made the call at a workshop organised by the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) in Lagos, said that government should be the key driver through tax incentives to ensure listing of more multinationals like telecommunication companies on the nation’s bourse.
He said that the commission would interface with government in 2016 to come out with initiatives aimed at increasing the number of listed companies on the stock exchange.
The director-general said that bulk of taxes paid in the country were from companies listed on NSE.
He said that listing of multinationals would the major target of the commission in 2016, adding that telecommunication companies should seek listing because of opportunities in the market.
Gwarzo said that the commission was working effectively to increase retail investors’ participation in the market.
He said that many of them would return to the capital market once their concerns were properly addressed.
“We want to address concerns of retail investors before we start wooing them into the market,” he said.
Gwarzo said that SEC had inaugurated the board of the National Investor Protection Fund (NIPF) as part of efforts to boost investor confidence in the market,
He said that the first beneficiaries would be paid in the next couple of weeks.
He said that dematerialisation of share certificates had reached high level of over 85 percent and would reach 100 percent before the year end.
Gwarzo said that the commission would deepen the non-interest capital market through regional workshops to enhance market development.
Also speaking, Oscar Onyema, the NSE Chief Executive Officer, said that quoted companies were paying the highest corporate tax in the country.
Onyema said that the tax paid by them were 65 per cent higher when compared with rates paid by unlisted companies.
Onyema suggested that government should consider giving quoted companies tax rebate of 10 per cent to enhance revenue generation and encourage quotation on NSE.
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