SEC Now Charges e-dividend Registration Fee
- Investors to pay N150
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says all Investors and shareholders will now pay N150 per investment to register on the e-dividend payment platform.
With this new directive, the Commission is finally putting a halt to its free registration exercise that has so far cost it about N315 million as at December 31, 2017.
Acting Director General of SEC, Dr Abdul Zubair said investors and shareholders yet to sign up for the e-dividend payment have permanently missed out of the free registration opportunity.
Dr Zubair said at press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday that the enrollment now attracts “a marginal cost of N150 (one hundred and fifty Naira) only” to mitigate the huge cost carried by the Commission since the exercise commenced.
According to him, investors will not be requested to pay the N150 fee at the point of registration and/or submission of completed e-dividend Mandate Forms, rather the payment is to be made after confirmation that the account supplied by the investor is adequately funded and operational.
The SEC boss explained that such investors “should continue to approach their Banks or Registrars, as usual, to seamlessly mandate their Bank Accounts for the collection of their Dividends electronically, including unclaimed dividends, not exceeding 12 years of issue; as the N150 would not be demanded from them at the point of registration.”
Dr Zubair also said given the Commission’s decision to continue with the e-dividend registration exercise, Forbearance for Multiple Accounts Consolidation (FMAC) deadline has now been extended.
He stated that SEC took the decision to extend the FMAC “with a view to encourage many more investors to consolidate their multiple subscriptions into one account by 31st March, 2018.”
“Investors that bought shares of the same company during public offers, using different names, are allowed till 31st March, 2018 to continue to approach their Stockbrokers or Registrars, to regularize their shareholdings, in line with SEC Rules on customer identification”, Zubair said
He however warned that all shares not regularized within the stipulated timeframe “will be transferred, on trust, to the Capital Market Development Fund.”
On the directives that all Registrars should stop issuing dividend paper warrants with effect from January 1, 2018, Zubair said it is “in line with approved rules of the Commission”, adding that, “all paper dividend warrants issued up till December 31, 2017 are valid and should be honoured by banks and registrars.”
The Commission further stated that only 2.1 million investors completed the e-dividend enrolment as at December 31, 2017, adding the new arrangement has effectively halted the process of SEC underwriting the N150 processing fee for successful e-dividend registration.