Stanbic IBTC Capital’s Funso Akere, CSCS’s Jalo-Waziri Criticise SEC’s Fundraising Rules

Stakeholders in the Nigerian stock market have criticised the timeframe of processing equity capital in the bourse, urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to review the rules around raising funds.

They said the SEC regulations on listing to raise capital doesn’t reflect the market realities, as it takes almost half a year to complete the process. This was stated during the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) CEO Roundtable on Thursday.

Speaking during the webinar, which Prime Business Africa was part of, the Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Capital, Funso Akere, said the NGX rule is outdated, and has been a challenge for companies he has worked with.

Akere explained that it takes four to six months to complete the process to raise capital on the exchange, whereas, companies can obtain loan within one month, he told attendees at the webinar.

The boss of the Stanbic IBTC Holdings subsidiary said the rules are antiquated, and have remained for the past 23 years when he started his banking career. Akere requested that the capital market authorities should be flexible in its operation.

Akere urged both the NGX and SEC to work on the regulatory areas to enable companies find the stock market attractive enough to want to participate.

His opinion was shared by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, Jalo-Waziri Haruna, who said before the SEC review it rules, the regulator needs to ask itself some vital questions.

Haruna stated that the market authorities need to understand what companies want, which is to raise affordable capital quickly. According to him, having hundreds of people situated at a place to raise funds is old-fashioned.

He echoed Akere’s view regarding time to market, stating that it takes six weeks thereabouts to Access Bank loans, but longer period to finally reach the capital market for the same capital.