The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given approval for six fund management companies to voluntarily cease operations.
The six companies, until January 29, 2019, have been licensed to engage in fund management in the capital market.
In a statement, SEC noted, “HFC Capital Partners Ltd, Attai Capital Ltd, Serengeti Capital Ltd, Indigo Investment Management, Verit Investment Advisory, and Waxson Investment and Pension Management, have voluntarily requested to cease operations for various reasons.”
SEC explained that it has, after a thorough assessment of the situations, approved the request from the six companies and has directed them not to carry out any fund management activities anymore
The commission warned that anyone who engages in any transaction with the above companies in their capacity as fund managers could be at risk.
“SEC assures all investors, market operators and the general public that it is committed to ensuring rigorous enforcement of all the rules for operators in the capital market in order to promote the growth and development of an efficient, fair and transparent securities market in which investors and the integrity of the market are protected.”
The statement noted the fund managers gave various reasons for their pullout but didn’t make them public. There had been an earlier directive to all fund management firms to put their respective houses in order -most notably with regards to compliance to a three year old directive to cease offering managed fund portfolios that guarantee specified returns on investment to clients – or face a forced shutdown and perhaps that might have influenced the closure decision.
Meanwhile the chief economic analyst at Databank, Courage Martey, reckons efforts to retrieve customer funds either through cash or by documentation should be straightforward where the client can direct where his or her funds should be moved to.
With exclusion of the six companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission still has about 130 licensed fund management companies registered under its auspices.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe & Michael Eli Dokosi
