The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), says capital market participants will be given unique identifiers to curb issues of fraud in the market.

According to the SEC, the unique identifiers will also reduce the high number of unclaimed dividends.

The commission said in a statement in Abuja that its director-general, Lamido Yuguda, said this at a meeting with the management of Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB).

Mr Yuguda said the move was part of efforts by the SEC to manage identities of participants in the capital market.

He also mentioned that the identity management project in the capital market would ensure that market transactions be secured and done on a ‘Straight Through Processing’ basis.

Mr Yuguda further stated the project would ensure that little human intervention was in the processing of data.

The director-general said that the commission was currently engaging stakeholders to harmonise various databases of investors and facilitate data accuracy in the market.

“As far as the commission is concerned, we have an information technology transformation project underway that seeks to strengthen our data protection within the commission and the capital market,” explained Mr Yuguda. “It will be up to speed in terms of modernity, efficiency and protection of the database of the commission and the capital market.”

The national commissioner of the NDPB, Vincent Olatunji, commended SEC for its robust data policy and expressed the readiness of the bureau to collaborate with the commission.

(NAN)