Ordinarily it shouldn't have been so difficult for the market regulator to kill a piece of proposed legislation passing a vote of no confidence on its own function and performance - but for the sake of democracy. This is after the whole of 11 years since the bill's introduction and all the back and forth on its propriety. Well this latest version slated for the public hearing appears to have really undergone a lot of soft-pedalling on the rather autocratic provisions it came with originally. But yet without a unique value proposition.
 
To all who will be making an appearance at this public hearing, it is yet another opportunity to make appropriate decisions that would stand the test of time and for the greater good of our market. And in reaching that decision, please let us be mindful of what is best practice globally, and our moral obligations to sincere developmental objectives. Value propositions determine the level of attraction.
 
There is no value in railroading people into a scheme without the promise of a significant and enduring impact on the people and the system at large. What this market needs the most is TRUST enhancement - a process thing.
 
TRUST is earned, not legislated into existence. And neither does the claim of professionalism amount to an assurance of trust. It is the doing and not the proclamation.
 
Professionalism does not automatically equate trust, it is about the application of standards and due process which the SEC is already adequately empowered by law to ensure through its rules and regulations enforcing compliance. The Nigerian capital market has more than enough qualified and skilled professionals, our challenge is from process and standards, not lack of association or rules.
 
By the operations of CISI UK and FINRA US, both markets depict appropriate structures built over time and on ever evolving sound value propositions, not force of laws, giving due recognitions to the essence of separation between the buy and sell sides to keep TRUST highest up in the scheme of things. These are model options available to us, why isn't anyone else considering that? How and when can we claim, or hope to have a great market with this knack for violating the deepest essence of TRUST and market INTEGRITY?
 
It is one thing that we've not coped well with catching up with global market evolutions and whilst we should be strengthening the regulator, we appear more fascinated with things to whittle down its power and effectiveness. This is another law - in addition to that funding handicap of surplus remittance to CRF - that has all the trappings of a regulatory capture and the potential to send us back in the wrong direction, on a very high speed indeed.
 
The world is watching.

About the Author

Mr. Akin' Adeniyi, CIPM  is the President & Chairman of Council of the Association of Corporate and Individual Investment Advisers (CIIA). He is also the Chief Relationship Officer (CRO) of KingsThrones Limited