SEC sets January 31 deadline to renew registration of Capital Market Operators

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reminded Capital Market Operators (CMO) that the annual renewal of registration for year 2023 will commence from January 1, 2023 and expected to end on January 31, 2023.

The SEC had in 2021 re-introduced periodic renewal of registration by capital market operators which was premised on the need to have a reliable data bank of all CMOs registered and active in the Nigerian capital market, to provide updated information on operators in the Nigerian capital market for reference and other official purposes by local and foreign investors, other regulatory agencies and the general public.

This was stated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a recent circular released to the capital market.

According to the Commission, “the annual renewal of registration of Capital Market Operators which is aimed at ensuring that only fit and proper persons operate in the Nigerian Capital Market

“In line with the Commission’s Rules and Regulations, all CMOs are to complete the process of renewal of registration for 2023 on or before 31st January 2023 through the Registration Renewal Portal – eportal.sec.gov.ng.

The renewal was also introduced to increasingly recue incidences of unethical practices by CMOs such as may affect investors’ confidence and impact negatively on the Nigerian capital market as well as to strengthen supervision and monitoring of CMOs by the Commission.

Consequently, the Commission amended its rules and re-introduced the requirement for yearly renewal of registration by all CMOs and carried out electronically in order to ensure efficiency.