SEC increases capital requirement for market operators to GHS2M

As part of efforts to sanitize and strengthen the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has set a new capital requirement for market operators in the Ghanaian Capital Market Industry.

The new directive, which sees an increase for fund managers from GHS100,000 to GHS2 million, is in accordance with Section 209 of the Securities Industry Act 2016, (Act 929).

It is also in line with the Commission’s mandate of regulating and promoting the growth and development of an efficient, fair and transparent securities market in which investors and the integrity of the market are protected.

A statement issued by SEC noted that the new capital requirement takes effect on December 31, 2021.

All new entrants into the market will be required to meet the new capital requirement, while those already in the market will be required to meet the new standard before the end of 2021.

“The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reverend Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh speaking at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Securities Industry Association (GSIA) in Accra remarked that the new minimum capital requirements for market operators were expected to be in force by end of next year therefore existing market operators would be expected to be fully compliant by 31st December 2021 while new entrants would be required to meet the new requirements immediately,” the statement said.

Reverend Ogbarmey further noted that the new capital requirements contained in the just released licensing requirements guidelines for market operators should come as no surprise to the market as the new capital thresholds had been discussed extensively with market operators in the capital market industry.

In addition to the new licensing guidelines, the Securities and Exchange Commission has also issued other guidelines to steer the operations and activities of market operators.

These include Conduct of Business Guidelines, Regulatory Sandbox Licensing Guidelines and Corporate Governance Code for listed companies.

Below are the new requirements for other market operators:

This comes barely a year after 53 capital market operators had their licenses revoked by the SEC for various regulatory infractions including inability to pay depositors’ claims.

It emerged that about 8 billion cedis of investment funds have been locked up in the collapsed companies.

The government has since made some allocation to pay part of the funds to the affected investors.