The Securities and Exchange Commission has said that it is putting plans in place to increase the Nigerian capital markets depth.Accordingly, the apex market regulator has developed a road map to ensure that new issuances are brought into the market.The Director-General, SEC, Ms. Arunma Oteh, who was quoted as saying this in statement on Monday, decried the fact that within the last one year, the Exchange has recorded a decline in the number of issuances.According to her, if this continues, it would have a negative effect on the market. She said that SEC was, therefore, poised to see that there would be a reversal of trend in the coming year.She said, We are aware that new issues and listings would work towards improving and increasing the depth in the Nigerian Stock Exchange and it is important that we the regulators do all we can to ensure that there are more issuances in the market.The situation in the last year has shown that there has been a decline in the number of issuances in the market the past year, and we have taken steps to ensure that this is corrected.Oteh said that SEC had been involved in concerted efforts to bring in new issuances, adding that such a move was key to boosting activities on the exchange and attracting more investors.We want to do all we can to ensure that the market remains attractive so that more investors, both local and foreign, would be attracted to the market, she noted.Oteh added that in a bid to reposition the Nigerian capital market, SEC has inaugurated seven sub-committees of the Capital Market Committee that would map out strategies for the revival of the market for better performance.The CMC is a body comprising officials of the SEC, Nigerian Stock Exchange operators and other stakeholders in the nations capital market.According to her, the seven subcommittees include investors confidence restoration, investment management market information/technology, commodities exchange/capital trade points, fixed income securities, products and business development and rules and compliance.She noted that the subcommittees would come up with a road map that would assist in the determination of the direction of the market in 2012 and beyond.According to her, the investor confidence restoration subcommittee, for instance, would come up with strategies and home grown policies that would ensure that investors refocused attention on the market and ensure that their needs were adequately taken care of.Explaining the functions of the Investment Management subcommittee, she said it would evolve strategies that would ensure greater participation in portfolio investment by investors, whether in stocks, equities or commodities.Members of the committee would come out with ways on how portfolio and fund managers can pull retail investors together and give them professional and qualitative advice and services, she stated.
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