Some capital market operators in the nation’s bourse on Thursday sought for extension of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ongoing recapitalisation deadline to December 31, 2015.
Emeka Madubuike, the President of the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria, confirmed the development in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
Madubuike said the commission needed to review the recapitalisation deadline fromDecember 31, 2014 to December 2015, in the interest of the market.
He said the policy needed to be reviewed following the ongoing uncertainties in the country, which had hampered market growth and development.
The ASHON president said that insistence on December 31, 2014 deadline by the commission would increase the market uncertainties.
Madubuike said the brokers needed time to pursue the options of mergers and acquisitions if need be.
Also speaking, Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf, the immediate past President of ASHON, said the deadline should be extended, considering the challenges in the country.
Yussuf said that regulators should be worried on the persistent fall of equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange due to various uncertainties in the country.
He said the deadline should be extended in view of the ongoing political uncertainties.
Yussuf said: “SEC should extend the deadline to give room for 2015 elections to be over and for the market to be a little stabilised.
“When you create more uncertainties, you create bigger problem.
“And once the capital market is unsettled, the whole sector will be unsettled.”
The former ASHON chief said the commission should be talking of recapitalization, with the developments in the nation’s capital market.
NAN reports that SEC recently announced major increases in minimum capital requirements for capital market functions, under a new minimum capital structure that is expected to take off by January 1, 2015.
The apex capital market regulator increased minimum capital base for broker/dealer by 329 per cent from the existing N70 million to N300 million.
A Broking firm, which currently operates with capital base of N40 million, will now be required to have N200 million, representing an increase of 400 per cent.
Minimum capital base for dealer was increased by 233 per cent from N30 million to N100 million.
Also, issuing houses, which facilitate new issues in the primary market, will now be required to have minimum capital base of N200 million, as against the current capital base of N150 million.
The capital requirement for underwriter also doubled from N100 million to N200 million.
A Registrar will now have a minimum capital base of N150 million, as against the current requirement of N50 million.
While the minimum capital base for corporate investment adviser remained unchanged at N5 million, individual investment advisers will have to increase their capital base by 300 per cent, from N500,000 to N2 million.
Also, dealing members of the exchange are contending with minimum operating standards recently introduced for all the three classes of dealing members, including brokers and dealers.
The new standards address the five broad areas of manpower and equipment; organisational structure and governance; effective processes; global competitiveness; and technology.
The new standards are also expected to take off on January 1, 2015, just as the new capital requirements by SEC.
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