The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has said that N29.3 billion out of about N90 billion outstanding unclaimed dividends has been paid out to investors in 11 months (November 2015 to October 2016) since it began aggressive campaign for elimination of unclaimed dividend in the market.

The Commission also said it has achieved 98.9 percent compliance in share certificate dematerialisation and hoped to hit 100 percent compliance in the next three months.

The Director-General, SEC, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, who disclosed these at the post  third quarter Capital Market Committee, CMC, meeting press briefing in Lagos, said the number represents 37 percent reduction in the volume of unclaimed dividends in the Nigerian capital market.

The SEC had  last year in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS, launched the e-Dividend Mandate Management System, to address the lingering problem of unclaimed dividend in the market. The portal allows investors to register and supply their bank details where dividends from their investment are credited directly, including the outstanding dividends.

Gwarzo, who hailed the development as first of such breakthrough in the capital market, said that there has never been any initiative that has reduced unclaimed dividend in this manner. He said that to-date 1.4 million investors have mandated their accounts, adding that the feat was made possible through the cooperation and support of the registrars.

“Apart from so many other benefits of e-dividend, one major benefit also is that if you key into it e-dividends management portal, and there are unclaimed dividends you have not been able to get, registrars were compelled to pay all the areas.

“We think this is a major game changer. In this country, we have never had any initiative that has reduced unclaimed dividend like this. Apart from getting dividend directly credited into their designated account, the investors will be able to get unclaimed dividend that has been outstanding for five to 10 years. That is why we said that e-dividend must work; it is for the interest of investors. That is why SEC since we started implementing the Master Plan, our focus has been on the retail investors,” he said.

Gwarzo also stated stockbrokers that have not keyed into direct cash settlement programmes have been mandated to do so except in instance where the investor indicates otherwise.

He further stated that the Commission is working towards stratifying the listing boards in the stock exchange to allow more Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, that are finding it difficult to meet the current listing requirements to access the market.

Meanwhile, investors lost N70 billion at the end of trading session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, last week. This represents 0.79 percent decrease from N8.791 trillion recorded the previous week to N8.721 trillion. The All Share Index, ASI, fell by the same margin, dropping to 25,333.39 points from 25,537.54 points.

Similarly, all other indices finished lower during the week with the exception of the NSE banking and NSE consumer goods indices that appreciated by 0.02 per cent and 0.42 per cent respectively while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.

The oil and gas sector fell the most, dropping by 5.05 per cent, followed by the industrial goods sector that returned -1.59 per cent and the insurance sector that with 0.32 per cent. Forte Oil Plc led 24 other decliners by 24.04 percent to close at N19.87, followed by Okomu Oil Palm Company with 13.81 percent to close at n5.80 per share, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc depreciated by 12.79 per cent to close at N0.11. Airline Services and Logistics, ASL Plc’s shares went down by 11.88 percent to close at N0.36, while UACN Property Development Plc closed as the last on the top five losers, depreciating by 11.79 percent to close at N0.33 per share.