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Capital Market: NGX RegCo Vows To Promote Fair, Transparent Transactions

NGX RegCo, Ms. Tinuade Awe

NGX Regulation (NGX RegCo) Limited has restated its commitment to promoting a fair, transparent, and orderly Nigerian capital market.

The Chief Executive Officer of NGX RegCo, Ms. Tinuade Awe, who stated this at the 2021 Issuers’ Engagement Forum with the theme: ‘Corporate Disclosures – Beyond Numbers’, commended some businesses that managed to survive despite the harsh economic headwinds precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still very much visible across the global economy. Whilst many businesses are either closed or waiting for the economy to open up, others have weathered through the storm created by the pandemic, leveraging on their continuity plans built on sustainable business models.”

“The theme of this year’s forum is aptly couched to reflect the realities of our today’s world. With the increasing levels of shareholders’ activism and greater levels of scrutiny on financial performance, the qualitative aspect of information disclosure is becoming more imperative for businesses as much as the quantitative form of information.” Awe noted.

It would be recalled that the NGX Disclosure Guidelines released in December 2018, provided the value proposition for sustainability as well as a step-by-step approach on integration of sustainability in organisations, as well as detail indicators that should be considered when providing annual disclosure to the NGX.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also recently introduced its Guidelines for Sustainable Financial Principles for the Nigerian Capital Market in April 2021. These and other efforts by the government, market regulators and policy makers in the sustainability space point to the increasing importance of sustainability reporting in the context of enhanced corporate disclosures.

In a statement, NGX RegCo noted that engagement such as this are particularly important because the capital market is information driven, adding that it will continue to encourage Issuers to show transparency in their business activities through timely disclosure of price sensitive information to the market to prevent information asymmetry.

The Regulation Company also expressed the desire to work with Issuers towards compliance with Nigerian Exchange Limited’s (NGX) post listing requirements as well as other regulatory demands for public listed companies, particularly with regards to upholding good governance practices that thrive on accountability and enhanced information disclosure.

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