SEC Withdraws Licenses of 84 Capital Market Operators

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended an advice to all stakeholders in the market, with the inclusion of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) PLC, all Capital Market Trade Groups and the investing public to truncate all relationships with the 84 Capital market operators who have had their licences withdrawn. SEC insisted that it derived its powers from section 30 (1) and (2) of the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 to revoke the operating license of capital market operators that are inactive. The commission had in a notice on its website captioned, “Pre-Notice of Cancellation of Certificates of Registration of Inactive Capital Market Operators,” given a December 4, 2015 deadline to the affected CMOs to make available cogent reasons why their registrations as CMOs should still be retained. According to the SEC, “The 84 Capital Market Operators were registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission for various functions in the Nigerian capital market. However, these CMOs have consistently failed to render their statutory returns to the commission and may have been unable to comply with the new minimum capital requirements before the deadline stipulated by the commission, which expired on September 30, 2015.” The affected operators are: Aiq Venture Capital Fund Managers Ltd, All Bond Investment Limited, Amalgamated Capital Funds Ltd, Associated Investment Trust Co. Limited, Bayhead Alpha Capital Ltd, Bluebird Capital, Boston Capital Investments Limited, Brickfield Road Associates Ltd, Capital Partners Limited Corporate Investment Adviser, Capital Structures Ltd, Circular Trust Ltd, Citi Asset Mgt Ltd, Citizens Inv. & Sec. Ltd, City Investment Management Ltd, Consolidated Investment Limited, Consult & Capital Limited, Dakal Services Limited, De-canon Investment Limited, Development Business Co, Dolbic Finance Limited, Dvcf Oil & Gas PLC, Dynamic Trust & Securities Ltd, Eazytrade Concept Ltd. Elyon’s Asset Management Ltd, Emi Capital Resources Ltd, Enterprise Capital Mgt. Ltd, Equinox Asset Management Limited, Express Discount Limited, FB Asset Mgt. Limited, First Marina Trust Ltd, Fittco Securities Limited, Floodgate Finance & Sec, G. Akomas & Partners, Global Capital Market Ltd, Global Inv. & Sec. Ltd, Habitat Trust Ltd and Hazonwao Assets Management. Others are Honey Comb Asset Mgt Ltd, Indemnity Finance Ltd, Integrated Capital Services Ltd, Investment Monitors Ltd, Jubilee Global Fund PLC, Kendall Securities Ltd, Kingsway Securities Ltd, Koltron Ltd, Lombard Asset Mgt. Limited, Lynac Securities Ltd, Malachai Funds & Assets Mgt. Ltd, Maninvest Asset Management PLC, Metropolitan Trust Nigeria Ltd.