The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) said it facilitated the recovery and restitution of shares valued at N1.436 billion for investors in 2020 in keeping with its strategic focus on investor protection.
The NGX also compensated 49 claimants who suffered pecuniary losses with N17.02 million during the year.
Speaking at the 60th Annual General Meeting of the Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema, CEO, NGX Group, said the NGX would continue to encourage collaborative approach to regulation and would remain committed to providing a dynamic and robust regulatory framework for the benefit of all stakeholders.
He said: “As a market regulator, we have the task of ensuring that stakeholders uphold their obligations to the market and the investing public, whilst at the same time maintaining a regulatory framework that encourages and develops good practice to make it easy for these obligations to be met and for the market to thrive.
“In 2020, we upgraded X-Whistle, our web-based whistle blowing portal that empowers members of the public to report possible violations of the rules and regulations of The Exchange and suspected fraudulent activity within the capital market.
“The upgraded portal affirms our commitment to upholding market integrity, protecting investors and building a world-class capital market that is fully digitized. We also facilitated restitutions and recoveries of shares worth N305.11 million for investors.”
He disclosed that the Exchange supported the legislative process for doing business reform, which led to the presidential assent to the Companies and Allied Matters Bill in its bid to elevate the capital market. “We also engaged with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to achieve specific capital market incentives in the Finance Acts 2019 and 2020.”
Speaking on the outlook for 2021, he said: “We will continue to execute our 2018-2021 corporate strategic plan with an even keener focus on executing our long-term market development initiatives.
“Following the completion of our demutualisation process, we welcome the new possibilities that have opened up for us and will prioritize those which enable us to deliver greater value to our community of global investors and issuers.”