Nigeria’s SEC increases efforts to tackle identity theft in capital market

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stated that the Identity Management System being developed by the capital market would tackle the lingering identity management issues while allowing room for scalability as technology evolves.

This was stated by the Director General of the SEC, Lamido Yuguda when he received in Abuja members of the Committee on Identity Management for the Capital Market.

In order to proffer a lasting solution that would ensure competitiveness of the Capital Market through processes and practices that improve efficiency, enhance participation of both domestic and foreign investors and resolve the protracted issue of unclaimed dividend, the Committee on Identity Management for the Capital Market was constituted by the SEC on June 30, 2021.

Membership was drawn across the Capital Market, banking, payment system and technology/innovation enabler with the SEC as the secretariat. The Committee is chaired by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. Members include Bayo Olugbemi, Haruna Jalo-Waziri, Oladele Sotubo, Saheed Bashir, Herbert Wigwe, Premier Oiwoh and Adedeji Olowe. It is tasked with a high-level Terms of Reference (ToR) that would address legacy issues caused by lack of proper identity management system for the Nigerian Capital Market. It is also to facilitate data accuracy and ease of participation in the capital market.

Read also: CISI tasks women in Nigerian Capital market on gender equality

Yuguda described identity theft as a fraudulent practice of using another person’s name and personal information to obtain shares, credit and loans, among others adding that the commission decided to engage relevant stakeholders in a bid to resolve issues of identity management to tackle the problem of unclaimed dividends.

According to him, problem of unclaimed dividends had to do with identity management, hence the commission is currently engaging stakeholders to harmonize various databases of investors and facilitate data accuracy in the market as well as increasing investors’ education to stem the trend.

The SEC DG who expressed satisfaction with the work of the Committee so far, added that stakeholder engagements would commence in earnest to ensure success of the project.

While thanking the members of the Committee for lending their support and resources to the Project, the SEC DG also expressed confidence in the success of the Project that it would build a greater Nigeria and impact unborn generations.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede commended the Commission on the recent release of Rules on Issuance, Offering Platforms and Custody of Digital Assets saying that it was a step in the right direction.

Aig-Imoukhuede said the Committee’s work had exposed the need for standardisation of systems within the Nigerian Capital Market that would support Open Finance which the SEC can drive, adding that the SEC could leverage on the Committee to develop the framework for the Nigerian capital market.

According to Aig-Imoukhuede “The Committee had clearly defined the task ahead in a Road Map and also identified that the Project would be carried out in stages supported by a consultant with recourse to the SEC on a regular basis. The Committee is committed to ensuring that the customer journey for investors is such that would cause a revolution in the Nigerian capital market, thereby making our market attractive to the tech savvy and younger generation”.

The Nigerian Capital Market has been on a journey of innovation to drive an efficient Capital Market that would greatly impact the Nigerian economy. The SEC had identified that lack of a proper identity management system for the Nigerian Capital was a plague in attaining its goal of efficiency and reducing the lingering issues surrounding identity management such as unclaimed dividends and cumbersome customer journeys.