By 
By Chinedu James
The Securities and Exchange Commission has revealed that a regulatory framework is in the offing for the fintech industry in Nigeria. Acting Director, SEC, Mary Uduk made the revelation recently in a lecture presentation in Abuja.
According to Uduk, the SEC is seeking a technology-driven capital market as well as protection for its teeming investors through the new regulations. She noted that other climes have taken proactive steps towards the same purpose and Nigeria with her pursuit of a diversified economy will also do so.
For Uduk, the industry also needs to explore other areas of fintech innovation such as cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology that could grow the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“If we will regulate this market and understand what is happening, we need our staff to understand the rudiments of fintech. Very soon, the whole world will move to technology for regulation. Other jurisdictions have already gone far into it with some of them already amending their rules in that direction.
“The International Organisation of Securities Commissions is on it and there is a lot on it already all over the world and we cannot be left behind. We are very much interested in some of the most active areas of fintech innovation like blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies and how they affect investors,” said Uduk.
With the increasing access to cashless systems, Stakeholders have often times called for the regulation in the industry as it will enable compliance with policies and also engender growth.
The growing capacity of the fintech industry is not to be overlooked. Ecobank during a tech summit predicted that the industry in Africa will grow US$ 200 million to US$ 3 billion by 2020. This, however, aligns with the fact that regulation will guide the capital market as opined by experts.
The SEC is Nigeria’s apex regulatory institution of the capital market supervised by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
