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By Femi Akinlolu
One of the major scourges of financial markets around the world is a tendency toward opacity, a propensity to work to appear healthy and bullish. The Nigerian capital market is not immune to such a trend, historically. This is why many have continued to applaud the appointment of Ms. Mary Uduk as Acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the capital market's regulatory authority of the nation.
Ms. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance He has shown sufficient courage to debug the system and put it on a path of transparency, which is in keeping with President Muhammadu Buhari's vision and value system. . The minister has had to deal with the bane of corruption and underhanded transactions in the capital market circuit.
Given the role of the capital market as a barometer with which investors and entrepreneurs measure health, in the short term and in the long term. If the Buhari government is to keep its promise to grow the economy, create jobs and create wealth, it must stop the haemorrhage in the sector and curb the excesses of the regulator and operators who are often motivated by personal and economic factors. parochial feelings rather than the public interest. It is in this context that the appointment of Uduk by the Minister is considered the perfect elixir to stem the rot on the capital market.
The Minister explained that the appointment of Uduk in April was governed by the provisions of the Act (ISA), 2007 and the terms of service applicable to the Director General of the Commission.
In the letter dated April 13, 2018, Adeosun explained that the appointment of Uduk was made necessary by the need to ensure effective regulation of the capital. market. The minister said that the appointment, subject to satisfactory results, would be maintained until further notice.
The Minister then announced the transfer of former Acting Director General, Dr. Abdul Zubair, to the Department of External Relations. There have been other reallocations approved by the Minister, including: Reginald Karawusa (Acting Executive Commissioner, Legal Affairs and Enforcement), Isiyaku Tilde (Acting Executive Commissioner, Operations) and Henry Adekunle (Acting Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services) .
Uduk has demonstrated a good understanding of what an "effective regulation" of the capital market entails. Through words and deeds, she sided with Buhari's values to create a culture of transparency in the system. She is on the road to openness and zero corruption.
She believes that investor confidence is key to ensuring that Nigeria benefits from the rich potential of its capital market, arguably one of Africa's most dynamic. It also goes hand in hand with the SEC's mission of "developing and regulating a dynamic, fair, transparent and efficient capital market to contribute to the economic development of the nation".
Capital market regulation of Africa's largest economy does not come cheap. He comes with his particular challenges and throws even more points in his path. Cases of insider trading, pure theft and various criminal acts all fueled by the greed and negligence of some of the operators are commonplace. All this should hold Uduk's attention as she works to correct the many wrongs that have marked the mandate of her predecessors. Until now, the opinion received is that she has shown the ability to undertake a major transformation of the market and support it.
Capital market observers who were disappointed in the past by the messy turn of events said his appointment was well deserved. She was in the system after joining SEC in 1986 as an badistant financial badyst. Since then, his career as a regulatory body has extended to many portfolios and departments within the Commission. She has experience in corporate finance, administration and the provision of structural, strategic and due diligence services for financial market transactions.
She also managed several major projects in the capital market, including the registration of market operators. , articulating the rules for bonds and shares; Mergers, acquisitions and acquisitions, and management of banking and insurance consolidations between 2005 and 2007.
She was also a pioneer in the operations division at the Lagos Area Office and headed a number of departments in the region. commission. it includes internal control, investment management, financial standards and corporate governance and securities, and the investment services department, among others.
So she comes to her new station not as a recruit but as a round staff. His interdepartmental experience gives him a head start in an area where being bright and smart is not enough, one must also be smart, knowledgeable and have the ability to always read prompts on the dashboard before others. It is there that his appointment makes a lot of sense. A regulator should avoid the din and should never be a victim of crowd-tracking syndrome.
The peeling of the banana that became the Achilles heel of some of his predecessors was that they could not lay the marker to separate the regulator. the operators. Often the regulator for strange reasons and especially at the edge of the transplant becomes subsumed under the influence of the operators, something like the referee becoming a player. It gives way to the corruption, manipulation and invasive fraud of the investing public.
Many believe that Uduk's leadership style, professional background and temperament allow him to easily navigate bananas. The SEC is guided by values namely: leadership by example, transparency, discipline, honesty, efficiency, commitment to excellence, the punctuality, equity and proactivity. Over the years, she has managed to embody these values without attracting undue attention to herself.
The functions of the commission are essential to revive the economy, support growth and promote healthy competition. It does this by registering, inspecting, monitoring, investigating, executing and setting rules. Each of these functions has a direct connection to others, so that if the commission fails in one, it triggers a brutal reaction on the whole system. Uduk knows it too well being a SEC insider for many decades. It was necessary for all responsibilities to be badumed by the leadership of the SEC
. Surveillance, inspection, investigation and enforcement issues, for example, should never be taken lightly. This is at the heart of various manipulations by shady operators. They cheat through the system and sometimes fire at it because the regulator looked away or relaxed in its monitoring and inspection tasks. The effect of this is a toll on investor confidence.
The Acting CEO of the SEC is up to the task. During a conversation with reporters after the meeting of the Capital Markets Committee of the Commission in Lagos, she left no doubt about her determination and that of her new team to continue to strengthen the confidence of the investors in the market.
: "The members of the new management team have worked for the commission for many years with experience in different departments of the commission and aspects of the capital market.We have always been part of the Commission's efforts to improve investor confidence and implement capital market master plan
"The Master Plan will continue to be our working document and we will continue to put in as the registration of electronic dividends, direct cash settlement, dematerialization, the complaints management framework, finance and investor protection, among others. "
Nigeria has lost a lot of investment because of the volatility of the financial markets, some investors have simply lost confidence in the system and have gone back in. The challenge is to bring them back and even more.
The SEC 's new leadership is very promising, following President Buhari' s model of transparency, integrity in service delivery, and a commitment to delivering the vision of the SEC 's founding technocrats who are "d & # 39; to be the main regulator of capital markets in Africa. "They have to make up their minds." The capital market is in serious need of this breath of fresh air.
Akinlolu, Financial Markets and Investment Analyst, written from Abuja
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