The capital market operators have appointed a renowned Nigeria consulting firm to guide the implementation of the much-awaited dematerialisation of the nation’s portfolio investments.
Capital market sources told the Tide source in Lagos that the firm would act as project manager for the full dematerialisation of the market.
Dematerialisation is the process of replacing paper certificates with electronic records at the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS).
They said that the project manager would also guide the implementation of direct payment to clients and the mass trading system proposed by the market operators.
“We, the stakeholders in the market, have come together to appoint a project manager that will guide and coordinate the implementation process of various initiatives in the market,” they said.
The market operators said that the plan of the current management of the commission was to ensure implementation of the various initiatives of CMC in the past five years.
According to one of the sources, the consulting firm would work closely with a technical committee appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure smooth transition.
He said that the report of the demateralisation committee had been with SEC for five years.
He stressed that the commission’s present management remains committed to the market full implementation of the materialisation project.
Mr Mounir Gwarzo, SEC Director-General, had at the first Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting in the year, pledged that the final blueprint of the dematerialisation document would be ready in July.
He said that the commission would at the second quarter of CMC release the final blueprint of the dematerialisation for effective implementation.
The director-general said that the blueprint would address legacy issues that had affected dematerialisation exercise.
“The CMC dematerialisation committee submitted extensive report, we are now talking of implementation and we have set up a technical committee to handle it,” Gwarzo said.