379 investors lost N1.69bn to fraudulent activities – NSE

LAGOS — The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, yesterday said that a total of N1.69 billion was filed as claims by 379 investors who suffered pecuniary losses in the course of their transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE following the reconstitution of the Board of Trustees of the Investors Protection Fund, IPF, since the last two years.

Chief Executive Officer of NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, made the disclosure while briefing capital market correspondents on latest developments around the IPF at the exchange.
He explained that of the 379 claimants verified by the identity consultants employed by the Board of Trustees, BoT of IPF, 154 have been approved for payment, while N40.63 million has been mapped out to complete their compensation.
He added that 23 of the 154 claimants approved have already been compensated to the tune of N7.28 million as at August 17, 2015.
“Of the 154 claimants, 81 will be paid full the value of the loss of their investment; 73 claimants will receive below full value of the loss of their investments, while 78 claimants will receive exactly N400,000, which is for full value of their loss,” he said.
Onyema further stated that the BoT of the IPF has successfully modernised the fund in line with international standard and has also boosted the disbursable fund to the tune of N872 million.
Explaining the reason for delay in take-off of the fund disbursement two year after the reconstitution of the Board, Onyema said it took the IPF Board the process of bringing in professionals and selecting consultants to conduct the verification exercise, as well as calling each of the claimants to verify their identify to arrive this stage.

Source: Vanguard