SEC Proposes New Rule For Public Companies and Capital Market Operators

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed new rules for public companies and capital market operators to disclose penalties and sanctions imposed on them in their audited financial statements.

The commission stated this in a document titled, “Exposure of proposed new rule and sundry amendments to the rules and regulations of the commission,” posted on its website on Monday.

The new rule stated that “Public companies and capital market operators shall disclose penalties and sanctions in their subsequent Annual reports byways of notes to the account until all penalties owed the commission ae fully paid and sanctions fully complied with”. 

The amendments pegged the registration fee of brokers/dealers to N5 million against the N500,000 currently applicable.

Also, the broker/dealer is expected to pay N100,000 each as processing fees and registration of sponsored individuals in the new rule.

The fee for Sub-brokers (digital) was increased to N1 million from N200,000; sub-brokers (corporate) to N1 million from N200,000 and inter-dealer brokers to N5 million from the current N500,000.

“All CIS fund managers shall pay annual supervisory fees of 0.2 percent of the net asset value of the CIS under management not later than January 31 of every year to the commission,” SEC said.

It added that for failure to comply with the guideline, the fund manager shall be liable to a penalty of N100,000 and a further sum of N5,000 for every day of default.

“They shall continue to report outstanding penalties and sanctions in their subsequent annual reports by way of notes to the accounts until all penalties owed the Commission are fully paid and sanctions fully complied with.

“The commission shall publish on all public channels, including the SEC website or any other medium, the list of public companies and capital market operators with unresolved regulatory issues,” SEC added.