Yemisi Izuora
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is collaborating with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other relevant government agencies to make certain that enforcement of all laws against money laundering in the Nigerian capital market are carried out.
The acting Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, who disclosed this when he received the Director of NFIU, Usani Francis in his office in Abuja explained that the collaboration has become necessary given the important role the SEC plays in the financial system and the need to police the market and ensure that activities are in the best interest of the Nigerian financial system.
“For any operator coming before us for registration, first and foremost, it is mandatory that they have a compliance officer. If they do not have a compliance officer, we cannot grant them registration. Secondly, compliance officers must be very conversant with the workings of the NFIU,” he said.
He said the commission was willing to work with the NFIU to build capacity through workshops and training exercise for compliance officers given that it is a recent development, adding that the responsibilities of a compliance officer goes beyond knowledge of the relevant laws that govern their operations.
Speaking earlier, Francis said since they co-ordinate all the activities that have to do with money laundering and terrorism financing in Nigeria, the unit is en joined to cooperate with all stakeholder agencies to carry out its duties effectively.
He said the need to increase the level of collaboration has become imperative considering the fact that terrorism can only thrive when the terrorists have access to funds. Francis noted that it had been identified that terrorist now use other sources to move money aside the financial institutions.
“Even money laundering, we have identified that they use other sectors of the economy and we see the capital market as a vulnerable sector that they could use to acquire funds for their operations and hence the need for us to collaborate,” he said.