The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, in its mandate as the apex regulator of the Nigerian capital market has issued an advisory that would placate the impact of COVID-19 on capital market operations.
The SEC released a circular to capital market stakeholders on COVID-19, noting a number of market-focused adjustments which would be adopted in the interim in response to the effects of the disease. The adjustments include; filing and processing of applications electronically, extension of deadline on 2019 annual reports and Q1 2020 reports and postponement of the Q1 Capital Market Committee meeting earlier scheduled for April 23, 2020.
The Commission stated that applications shall be filed electronically while pending applications and requests by CMOs for information update would be processed via registration @sec.gov.ng. Fresh applications for registration of Capital Market Operators are however, suspended until further notice.
Also stating, returns shall be filed electronically while the commission has approved a 60 day extension, in the first instance for public companies and capital market operators to file their 2019 annual reports and first quarter Q1, 2020 reports.
Public companies, by advisory, are implored to take appropriate precautionary measures as recommended by the Federal and State Governments and the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and adhere to all recent directives on safety and social distancing to ensure the safety of shareholders and participants at Annual General Meetings/ Extra-Ordinary General Meetings and other meetings which may be held during the prevalence of the pandemic.
The commission, however, stressed that it is still focused on ensuring continuity of its operations, monitoring market functions and systemic risks, providing regulatory flexibility and guidance to issuers, trading platforms, capital market operators and other stakeholders impacted by the disease and continuation of investor protection efforts and relevant enforcement actions.
The commission’s first Capital Market Committee Meeting for the year scheduled to hold on April 23, 2020 and all other meetings have been postponed indefinitely and as such all complaints and enquiries should be made to the Commission on their website and various social media accounts.
Accordingly, the commission will continue to issue updates to market stakeholders as appropriate and will also ensure to closely coordinate with other financial regulators and governmental authorities as this is necessary to sustain the actualization of its regulatory mandate and to maintain the integrity of the Nigerian capital market during this challenging period.
