SEC intensifies effort on identity mgt in capital market

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

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

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 stakeholders in a bid to resolve issues of identity management to tackle the problem of unclaimed dividends.

According to him, the problem of unclaimed dividends has to do with identity management, hence the commission is currently engaging stakeholders to harmonise various data bases 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.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Aigboje AigImoukhuede, commended the commission on the recent release of Rules on Issuance, Offering Platforms and Custody of Digital Assets, saying it was a step in the right direction.

Mr 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 could drive, adding that SEC could leverage on the committee to develop the framework for the Nigerian capital market.