NSE, EFCC stop N20m capital market fraud

The Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have succeeded in aborting a N20m fraud targeted at the estate of an investor in the market, the late Prof. David Osifo.

The development was contained in a letter by the deceased’s wife, Prof. Bola Osifo, to the NSE, commending the two organisations for helping the family to recover the sum of N20m being her late husband’s investment.

In the letter, she wrote, “On behalf of the Osifo family, we will like to thank the NSE for the dedicated effort in ensuring the stolen shares were reimbursed to my husband’s estate.”

The late professor had equity investment to the tune of N20, 176,852.19 in the capital market but was said to have been illegally appropriated by some fraudsters.

Upon the detection of the crime, the wife of the deceased contacted the NSE.

The Exchange, according to the statement, was said to have swung into action and collaborated with the EFCC to recover the sum in full.

The collaboration between the NSE and the EFCC to prevent and combat abuse and infractions by players in the capital market was said to have yielded fruit.

The NSE in October 4, 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the EFCC to tackle market infractions and abuse. This partnership had successfully opened direct lines of communication and information sharing with the EFCC for reporting and investigations of incidents leading to a more proactive law enforcement and swift recovery of stolen securities.

To further protect investors, the NSE had set up the Investors Protectors Fund to compensate claimants for pecuniary losses suffered by them as a result of wrong doing by certain dealing member firms of the Exchange. The establishment of the IPF is pursuant to Section 197 of the Investment and Securities Act 2007. So far, 158 investors have been compensated

Speaking on the establishment of the IPF, the Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, who is also a trustee of the IPF, described it as a milestone.

“This milestone gives me great pleasure as it affirms our commitment to the continuous development of initiatives that will bolster confidence in the capital market,” he said.

NSE: Investors lose N3bn as Bankole seeks multinationals’ listing

The stock market opened the week on a downward note yesterday as investors lost N3 billion on account of losses sustained by most blue chip companies. Specifically,market capitalisation, which represents investors’ wealth fell by 0.3 per cent or N3 billion to close at N9.35 trillion from N9.38 trillion on Friday. In the same vein, the All Share Index, ASI, dropped by 0.3 per cent to settle at 27,220.02 basis points from 27,294.21 points. Performance across sectors was mixed during the day with the NSE 30 Index, NSE banking index and NSE industrial goods index depreciating by 0.4 per cent, 0.94 per cent and 1.86 per cent respectively. On the other hand, the NSE oil and gas index, insurance index and consumer goods index rose by 0.45 per cent, 1.07 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively. According to projection by analysts at United Capital Plc, sentiment is expected to be mixed this week, albeit with a bearish bias, with third quarter , Q3, earnings numbers likely to remain the dominant theme that will dictate overall market direction in the interim. “Momentum will likely be more towards the bears earlier on in the week at the fixed income market against a backdrop of tight system liquidity. That said, demand will likely gradually increase, with unallocated funds from foreign exchange, FX, forward sales re-entering the market even as the institutional players take position ahead of the new month. Further breakdown of activities during the day showed that Transcorp Plc led the losers with nine per cent decline to close at N0.91 from N1.00, followed by D.N Meyer that went down by 8.79 per cent to close at N0.83 from N0.91. 7Up Bottling company Plc, Lafarge Africa and Oando Plc each depreciated by five per cent to close as the last three on the top five losers table. Meanwhile, the former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole has called for the listing of big corporations operating in Nigeria on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Making the call at the Gala Night for the 20th Annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) in Lagos, Bankole opined that the Exchange at present cannot serve as the barometer for the economy as majority of big corporations in Nigeria are not listed. Former Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, who was the guest speaker, spoke on the theme “Building New Pillars, Creating New Values for Sustainable Development.” He said in the same way that the Nigerian economy was in need of complexity, the stock market was also in need of a broader variety of stock options. He listed some of the corporations not reflected in the capital market to include major companies in the telecoms sector like MTN, Globacom, Airtel; Discos and Gencos in the Electric Power Sector; NNPC, LNG, Petrochemicals, Shell and major upstream energy companies.