Recapitalisation: SEC DG Says Five Banks’ Shares Oversubscribed

The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr Eromomotimi Agama, has said that the five banks that tapped the market to raise fresh capital were oversubscribed.

“The banks that came to the market are fully subscribed and even oversubscribed,” Agama said.

In a report by Bloomberg on Monday following an interview with the SEC boss in Lagos, he said in the months following the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria on fresh capital requirements for banks operating in the country, five Nigerian banks – Guaranty Trust Holdings Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Holdings Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, and FCMB Group Plc – have approached the market to raise funds via a combination of public offers and rights issues.

These lenders raised a total of approximately ₦1.26tn ($770m) in the last two months to meet the CBN’s requirements.

This fresh capital has been raised ahead of the two-year deadline that the regulator gave to the banks.

The SEC DG also added that younger investors are increasingly embracing the capital market.

He said, “Young people are beginning to embrace the market, and we’re excited about it. We want to ensure domestic investors, particularly, are more involved in the market.”

In July, the SEC approved NGX Invest, a digital platform initiated by the stock exchange, which the banks utilised to pitch their share offers and attract young investors.