Nigeria’s Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing major and minor amendments to Rule 398 (3) (x), which relates to Share Buy-back as it relates to registration fees, minimum capital requirements, securities, and others.

The commission is proposing, as a major amendment, a 5% renewal fee of the existing registration fees for Capital Market Operators, payable to the commission yearly, not later than January 31, from the present 25%.

This, the commission explained arose from appeal from stakeholders and in line the regulatory mandate of fostering development in the market, to serve as a relief to existing CMOs and not to further stiffen the market.

Another proposed amendment to this Rule, the commission noted, as it relates to Share Buy-back, requires every company acquiring its own shares shall ensure that the “shares bought back shall be cancelled in accordance with the procedure set out in CAMA (Companies & Allied Matters Act).

Another proposal to the Rule is that such shares that are “bought back may be cancelled or held as treasury shares subject to the conditions set out in CAMA 2020.”

This amendment, the commission believes, “will bring the existing rule in consonance with the provisions of CAMA 2020 which allows for shares bought back to be held by the company as treasury shares.”