Stockbrokers Collaborate with Regulators for Market Buoyancy
The Chartered Institute of Stockbroker (CIS) is reinforcing its collaborative efforts with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and other stakeholders so as to restore confidence and create more value for investors in the nation’s capital market.
The President and Chairman of the Council, CIS, Mr. Oluwaseyi Abe, disclosed this at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the institute held recently in Lagos.
Although he said decried the negative impact of the tough operating environment on the capital market operations, he expressed optimism that the future would remain bright.
According to him, the immediate challenge is to restore the market to buoyancy.
“The challenge before us is to join hands with other market regulators to restore the market to buoyancy, while continuing to raise the profile of the Institute,” he said.
Speaking on the collaborative efforts with SEC, Abe stated that “CIS was actively involved in the development of the curriculum for the introduction of capital market studies in primary and secondary schools in the country by the SEC in collaboration with the Nigerian Educational, Research and Development Council.”
On the proposed Bill to globalise the Institute, Abe said: “The Council, during the year under review, approved the creation of Stand-Alone Certifications for candidates who wish to specialise and focus on their core career area. This is in conformity with global best practice and our proposed Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI) Bill, which we will continue to lobby the National Assembly to pass into Act.”
The CIS boss noted that in pursuit of investor education programmes and career talks designed to bring young ones into the capital market community, CIS visited several higher institutions and for the first time, a secondary school King’s College, Lagos in the review period.
According to him, the career talks and investor education are consistent with the enlightenment programmes of SEC and the NSE.
Commenting on the performance of the Institute in the review period, Abe noted that the macro-economic headwinds adversely affected operations of stockbrokers with attendants effects on their ability to pay membership fee and other levies, a development he said was impacting negatively on the Institute’s cash flow.
He, however, commended the stockbrokers for their resilience despite the tough operating environment. A stockbroker advised CIS to devise a strategy to recover the backlog of debts in order to boost the Institute finance while a council member, Mr. Chidi Ajaegbu assured the members that the Institute had embarked on a series of activities to improve on its financial status.