Business News
Again, SEC Warns Against Investing in Ponzi Schemes
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC), has again again cautioned Nigerians against investing their money in various investment schemes that are not registered to carry out fund management functions.
The Acting Director General of SEC, Ms.
Mary Uduk, sounded the note of warning in the face of various unregistered schemes luring unsuspecting Nigerians with unreasonable returns.
While enjoining investors to be wary of any investment that was proposing return levels that were unreasonably high, Uduk also advised investors to always cross check that such fund managers and the products they were offering were registered with the SEC.
According to her, the capital market is properly positioned to attract Nigerians and provide benefits to Nigerians who invest therein.
She said the SEC has been doing a lot in terms of investor education to assist people understand whatever issues they have around the capital market.
“But besides that, there are new products coming up every day in the Nigerian capital market. We have a lot of ethical funds, one of the safest areas to invest in is in Mutual Funds, Collective Investments Schemes and we encourage Nigerians to be part of these and others”.
The Acting DG disclosed that SEC was presently undertaking various initiatives to make the capital market more user-friendly such that people can participate in it with greater ease, comfort and convenience.
She said “There is the added and all-important purpose of ensuring that the gains of your participation, be these dividends, proceeds from share sales/transfers, etc. accrue to you seamlessly, without sweat and in the shortest time possible.
“The purpose is also to ensure that you do not fall victim to the antics of fraudsters who purport to be able to double any amount of money you make available to them as investment value.
“These fraudsters or promoters of Ponzi Schemes are the false prophets of the investment environment, they are the ill wind that blows no good and at whose sight you must flee; they are to be avoided. This is one message you must keep spreading to family, friends, relations and acquaintances in order to save them from the agony of loss of their hard–earned money”.
Uduk who advised the general public to distance themselves from such schemes, added, “Please note that anyone that subscribes to these illegal activities does so at their own risk.”
She also informed investors that the SEC is currently leading the entire capital market industry in an effort to migrate all shareholders to an e –Dividend regime.
The essence of the e-Dividend Mandate Management System she said, is to eradicate or reduce to the barest minimum the incidence of unclaimed dividend.
“Unclaimed dividend is an undesirable feature of the Nigerian capital market which denies investors/shareholders the gains of participating in the capital market. It denies the economy access to the huge amount of money which should have accrued to shareholders and would have gone into circulation to oil the wheel of the economy.
“It is a consequence of the bottlenecks which are inherent in the erstwhile paper dividend warrant regime such as postal system inefficiency, change in investors’ addresses, poor fidelity and human fallibility in dividend payment processes, amongst others.
Uduk stated that the e-Dividend regime bypasses these limitations by ensuring that dividends which do not exceed 12 years of issue are credited directly to an investors account after declaration by the paying company and within a stipulated payment period through simple interbank transfer.
Other initiatives by the SEC to ensure that Investors got the benefit from investing in the market, according to Uduk include, Multiple Subscription Regularisation, Direct Cash Settlement, dematerialisation, National Investor Protection Fund, Recapitalisation of capital market operators, corporate governance scorecard, new rules for products innovation, development of commodity exchange and Collective Investment Schemes.
Investors at the stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) yesterday lost N16 billion due to sell-offs in medium and largely capitalised stocks.
The NGX All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 29.35 basis points or 0.05 per cent to close at 54,886.04 basis points from 54,915.39 recorded on Friday.
Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N16 billion to close at N29.
Analysing by sectors, the NGX Banking Index added 1.3 per cent, and NGX Industrial Goods appreciated by 0.1 per cent.
Also, the Insurance Index down by 0.
5 per cent and NGX Consumer Goods Index depreciated by 0.4 per cent, while the NGX Oil & Gas index closed flat.Meanwhile, market breadth, which is measured by market sentiment was positive, as 19 stocks gained relative to 14 losers.
Access Holdings recorded the highest price gain of 7.14 per cent to close at N9.00, per share.
Cutix followed with a gain of 5.69 per cent to close at N2.23, while University Press appreciated by 5.53 per cent to close at N2.10, per share.
Custodian Investment went up by 5.17 per cent to close at N6.10, while Chams Holding Company appreciated by 4.17 per cent to close at 25k, per share.
Conversely, Ikeja Hotel led the losers’ chart by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.14, per share.
Wapic Insurance followed with a decline of 9.52 per cent to close at 38k, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings went down by 8.52 to close at N36.50, per share.
Multiverse Mining and Exploration lost 5.80 per cent to close at N3.25, while Livestock Feeds shed 5.50 per cent to close at N1.03, per share.
The total volume traded went up by 646.50 per cent to 1.172 billion units, valued at N2.877 billion, and exchanged in 3,066 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Neimeth Pharmaceutical topped the activity chart with 1.069 billion shares valued at N1.581 billion.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 15.964 million shares worth N128.784 million, while Access Holdings traded 13.033 million shares valued at N114.365 million.
Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) traded 11.770 million shares valued at N15.257 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 9.861 million shares worth N243.759 million.
Analysts at InvestmentOne Research said, “The equities market recorded a negative performance today due to the slumping prices printed in the Consumer Goods sector.
“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.” (NAN)
The Acting Chairman, FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS), Mr Haruna Abdullahi, has said that it ranks high in revenue generation because of the agency’s commitment to widening the tax net in the area.
Abdullahi said this in a statement by Mr Mustapha Sumaila, FCT-IRS Head of Corporate Communications, in Abuja yesterday.
According to the statement, Abdullahi said this at the 2023 Summit of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) for members, partners and students in Abuja.
The FCT-IRS boss said one of the strategies put in place by the agency to boost revenue generation was prioritising institutional framework that would outlive the current management.
“We have been working in the last two years to build the institutional framework that will fit into globally recognised institutions.
“We have stepped up our awareness campaigns to educate taxpayers on all our processes as well as mobilised prospective taxpayers to be in the tax net.
“Our engagement with our major stakeholders has also been enhanced overtime as we constantly engage with them.
“We also update and educate them on decisions, introduction and direction of policies,” he said.
Abdullahi further said, “capacity building of staff has also been of utmost priority.
“This is because we cannot have efficient and committed workforce if the staffers are not well trained to deliver optimally.
“From what we have done so far, there will be visible impact in terms of what the service will be generating in the next few years.”
On importance of mentorship at the event, the acting chairman said mentors were important when making career choices.
The acting chairman, who is a Fellow of ACCA, said it was also critical for people who had carved a niche for themselves to identify talents and impact positively in them. (NAN)
The equity market extended its losing streak for the fifth successive session as the market capitalisation decreased by N313 billion due to investors’ continued profit-taking.
The All Share Index (ASI) fell by 574.59 absolute points, representing a decrease of 1.04 per cent to close at 54,915.
61 points.Accordingly, investors lost N313 billion in value as market capitalisation declined to N29.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Sugar Refinery, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), United Capital and Industrial & Medical Gases Nigeria.
Market breadth remained negative as 25 stocks lost relative to eight gainers.
Chams Holding Company recorded the highest price gain of 8.7 per cent to close at 25k, per share.
University Press followed with a gain 7.57 per cent to close at N1.99, while LivingTrust Mortgage Bank gained 3.37 per cent to close at N3.07, per share.
Sterling Bank appreciated by 2.67 per cent to close at N1.54, while Zenith Bank rose by 2.52 per cent to close at N24.45, per share.
On the other hand, ETI led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N10.80, per share.
Industrial & Medical Gases Nigeria followed with a decline of 9.32 per cent each to close at N7.30, while Royal Exchange lost 8.22 per cent to close at 67k, per share.
R.T. Briscoe Nigeria shed 7.69 per cent to close at 24k, while International Energy Insurance shed 6.92 per cent to close at N1.21, per share.
Meanwhile, the total volume of trades decreased by 24.23 per cent to 137.287 million units, valued at N1.510 billion, and exchanged in 3,489 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) topped the activity chart with 26.085 million shares valued at N33.979 million.
Zenith Bank followed with 14.721 million shares worth N353.890 million, while Sterling Bank traded 13.231 million shares valued at N20.019 million.
United Bank of Africa (UBA) traded 10.242 million shares valued at N81.385 million, while Access Holdings transacted 7.626 million shares worth N66.201 million. (NAN)
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