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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to launch a new electronic dividend (e-dividend) portal at the end of November to simplify the process of mandating accounts in the capital market
This is to ultimately resolve the lingering issues of unclaimed dividends and poor identity management.
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The apex capital market regulator introduce the e-Dividend Management Mandate System (e-DMMS) in 2015, an electronic dividend payment platform enabling an investor’s account to be credited 24 hours after the dividend is paid.
New e-dividend portal to drive efficiency
But the difficulties encountered by retail investors in claiming their dividends through their savings accounts have persisted thus necessitating the new e-dividend portal, Director General of the SEC, Lamido Yuguda, told the media at a SEC Journalists’ training this week in Lagos. The event was organized by Nigerian Capital Market Institute.
“In furtherance of its efforts to ensure that new dividends do not become unclaimed, the commission is presently supporting work on an identity management system that would ensure that investors and market participants are properly identified so as to forestall the problems that led to accumulation of unclaimed dividends,” said Yuguda. He was represented by the Executive Commissioner (Operations), SEC, Dayo Obisan.
Adding that the portal will enhance efficiency and significantly reduces cases of unclaimed dividends.
According to him, the Commission recently inaugurated the e-dividend champions for banks and registrars at its Lagos Zonal office. The champions would have the responsibility of forwarding all shareholders’ complaints on registration to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to give clarifications on the issues within three days.
He blamed the increasing cases of unclaimed dividend to a lack of awareness, forgotten investments, multiple subscriptions, and inaccurate and outdated information/identity management.
