Yemisi Izuora
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it will deregister capital market operators (CMO) without the capacity to meet the new minimum capital requirement.
SEC said it will commence the action by October 2nd.
The regulator had set September 30 this year as deadline for the exercise.
Once deregistered the affected operators would have to apply for fresh registration.
There are 188 capital market operators with incomplete registration and 294 capital market operators with valid status.
Most of the capital market operators are Corporate Investment Advisers, Solicitors, Reporting Accountants, Issuing Houses, Receiving Bankers, FMDQ OTC Dealers, Broker/Dealers, Registrars, Fund /Portfolio Managers, Rating Agencies, Trustees, Underwriters, Custodians, and Venture Capital Managers.
SEC has also decided to prohibit brokers from proprietary trading post- recapitalisation and brokers’ proprietary accounts at the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) would be blocked.
They would only be allowed to maintain investment accounts with other firms (broker or broker dealer).
This regulatory decision also apply to market operators who elected to reduce their number of registered functions to recapitalise, after withdrawing SEC registered function –example Broker/Dealer to Broker or Dealer; Issuing House and Fund/Portfolio Manager to Issuing House, among others.