The Nigerian Exchange Group, NGX, through its regulatory subsidiary, NGX Regulation Limited, NGX Regco, has wielded its big stick by issuing around 3,792 regulatory actions on license holders in 13 years.
This is according to a recent report by trading license holders’ compliance, BrokerTraX.
The report showed that from 2011 to 2023, 3,792 infractions were documented, including 193 rules breaches by stockbroking firms.
The initiative is designed to improve investors’ confidence.
A more detailed analysis of the report indicated that in 2011, the NGX Regco carried out 257 enforcement actions against stock broking firms.
The number rose to 436 in 2012 and fell slightly to 424 in 2013.
Also, the data showed that Regco recorded 557 enforcement actions in 2014, which rose to 608 in 2015 but fell to 328 in 2016.
Numbers for other years include 2017 (267), 2018 (171), 2019 (167), 2020 (82), 2021 (148), and 2022 (139).
In 2023, the NGX Regco recorded 208 enforcement actions against trading license holders, bringing the total to 3,792 sanctions.
“The reduction in the number of enforcement actions carried out in the year 2020 was due to the regulatory concessions granted to trading license holder firms in order to cushion the adverse effect of COVID-19 on their business operations,” the NGX said.
“Between January 2012 and November 25, 2024, no fewer than 37 stockbroking firms (names withheld) were involved in the unauthorised sale of investors’ shares and misappropriation of investors’ funds”, the report further shows.
However, as a progress report, most of the complaints about unauthorised sale of investors’ shares and misappropriation of investors’ funds have either been resolved, unresolved, or restituted through the Investors’ Protection Fund (IPF).
Source: Daily Trust
