The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has said that a total of N1.69 billion was filed as claims by 379 investors who suffered pecuniary losses in the course of their transactions on the stock market.
The vice president of the Investors Protection Fund (IPF), Lawrence Anga, stated this at a media briefing in Lagos.
The IPF had finally kicked off the NSE following the reconstitution of its Board of Trustees (BoT) two years ago.
According to the data from the BoT of the fund, out of 379 claimants, 154 were verified by identity consultants and approved for payment by the board. The total sum payable to the 154 claimants whose identities have been verified by the identity verification consultants stood at N40.63 million; 81 investors will be paid the full value of the loss of their investments and 73 investors will receive below the full value. The data stated that as at August 17, 2015, 23 claimants were paid N7.28 million.
Anga explained that following the reconstitution of the IPF board in 2012, under the leadership of Gamaliel Onosede, it ensured that an appropriate governance structure for the fund was put in place and adopted best practices for its operations.
“Subsequently, it drafted rules for the fund, which were later adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, got an auditor and then converted the fund’s accounts to the International Financial Reporting Standard accounts,” he said.
Anga expressed satisfaction that after years of work, investors had started accessing the fund.
“It has been a long, rigorous and transparent process getting to this stage and we assure you that we will continue along this line,” he said.
On his part, the chief executive officer of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema, explained that the take-off of the IPF affirmed the commitment of the exchange to investors’ protection.
Source : Leadership