By Obas Esiedesa
Acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Mary Uduk has advised investors to diversify their investment portfolio as this would reduce the risk and by talking experts in the capital market.
Uduk who acknowledged that protecting investors remains critical to the growth of the capital market, said one of the ways of growing and developing the capital market is to ensure that investors are able to receive the benefits of their investments.
A statement by SEC in Abuja said she disclosed this when she spoke to journalists in Lagos at the weekend.
According to her, “When people invest, it’s because they are expecting some returns. So, we ensure that no one takes your money away in an illegal manner and also ensure that when profits are declared, investors benefit.
“We also encourage investors to try to diversify their portfolio, try to talk to experts and also explore the different vehicles of investments in the market so in one way or the other they will diversify their risks”.
Uduk said it is the responsibility of the SEC to ensure that investors are not short changed in any transactions in the market and therefore urged them to participate in the market to grow it.
She stated that it is to this end that the Commission is taking steps to reduce transaction costs in a bid to ensure that investors do not bear unnecessary costs.
She said: “We are doing a lot to boost investors’ confidence in our market. But I want to say that both local and foreign investors are very good for the market. Investors’ fears can be of two folds, firstly they could be afraid because they feel that capital market operators will mismanage their investments, secondly is looking at the volatility of the market that makes investors skeptical.
“For the first scenario, we have a number of initiatives that we have put in place to boost investors’ confidence. We have the e-Dividend mandate system, the Direct Cash Settlement as well as multiple subscriptions in place. For the second category, investors have to take ownership of their investments. They have to be able to monitor their investments, attend Annual General Meetings as well as read the annual reports sent out to them.
The Acting DG said investors are also protected through the National Investors Protection Fund (NIPF) Risk Based supervision that enables the SEC to supervise the operators to ensure that they do not do what they are not supposed to do.
According to her, the Complaints Management Framework enables investors to know where to complain to and how long it takes for such complaints to be resolved. For those of the investors that are averse to risk, they should get their financial advisers to advise them properly on where to invest.
“We also advise retail investors to invest in Collective Investment Schemes and Mutual Funds because those are managed independently by professionals and they are diversified thereby reducing risks.
“We are committed to protecting investors in the work we do. We will keep working on our rules and the possibility of amending them when the need arises, we want more transparency in the market so that investors will feel comfortable and the market can be better.” Uduk added.
On price movement in the equities market, the Acting DG said the regulator is more concerned about ensuring an efficient market and a market that is liquid.
