Some stock shareholders have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure synergy among regulators in 2016 to avoid unnecessary penalties and unfriendly policies.

Some of the shareholders made the call in Lagos on Wednesday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

They said that the apex capital market regulator and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) needed to collaborate with other regulators to avert market crash.

The Chairman, Nigeria Professional Shareholders Association, Mr Godwin Anono, urged the commission to liaise with other regulators to avoid over regulation and huge penalties that were capable of killing quoted companies.

Anono said that 2015 was a year of huge fines and contraventions that eroded shareholders’ investments in the affected quoted companies.

He said that the commission should collaborate with other industry regulators on the development in the interest of the market and the economy.

“Shareholders lose a lot of money and some banks and companies have not paid dividend in recent time.

“The regulators should not throw the baby away with dirty water rather they should give human face when sanctioning erring companies to avoid scaring investors.”

The chairman also called for further review of cost of transactions to enhance activities in line with present market and economic realities.

He said that SEC needed to partner with the leaders of shareholders groups on ways to move the market forward and must carry them along on policy issues.

Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, founding member of the Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association, said that investors should be recognised by SEC and NSE as one of the stakeholders in the market.

Olatokunbo said that investors should be enlightened on market policies and initiatives by market regulators for better understanding and not on pages of newspapers.

“There must be change of orientation and execution on the part of the regulatory agencies toward domestic investors with less emphasis on foreign investors.”

He called for policy improvement in 2016, noting that firms that were over 10 years in the country should be compelled to list on the exchange. (NAN)

•Photo shows SEC DG, Mounir.

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