The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has told Citi Business News it will by the end of 2017, announce a new minimum capital requirement for capital market operators.

According to SEC, the decision is to consolidate operations in the investment market and protect the interest of investors.

The move Citi Business News understands also follows concerns of possible effects of recent happenings in the banking industry which require the revision of some existing regulations in the financial space.

The Director-General of the SEC, Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh first hinted the plan early October when he engaged some players in the securities industry on ways to strengthen the operations.

The plan is, however, is expected to be preceded with initial consultations for stakeholder input.

“The plan is to do some engagements with the market because we believe that we want to get their buy-in. But we will keep the overriding objective in view which is to make sure that at the end of the day, we have very strong market operators.”

Even though he couldn’t disclose how soon the new requirement will be announced, Mr. Ogbarmey was highly confident that a roadmap or projected minimum capital requirements would be outdoored by the end of 2017.

“I want to believe that by the end of this month we would have started the engagement process with the market and definitely before the end of the year we will be very clear on issuing directives on the new capital requirement for capital market operators.”

Currently, capital market operators are required to possess a minimum of hundred thousand cedis before being granted certification.

But Mr. Ogbarmey Tetteh maintains increasing the figure will protect consumers and deepen the investment regime in Ghana.

Source: GhanaWeb