Nigeria’s capital market operators are under growing pressure to modernise corporate action processes as rising dividend payouts, increasing shareholder participation and record capital-raising activities place fresh demands on market infrastructure.
This comes as registrars warned that the future of corporate actions in the country would depend on the industry’s ability to deliver faster execution, improved transparency and stronger investor trust amid growing transaction volumes.
The concerns follow a year in which listed companies on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) declared about N1.28 trillion in dividends, while regulators approved an estimated N3.68 trillion in capital-raising transactions, underscoring the increasing scale of activities requiring efficient administration.
Speaking on the future of corporate actions in Nigeria, Managing Director of Coronation Registrars, Bayo Olugbemi, said registrars must accelerate digital transformation to keep pace with the changing demands of issuers, regulators and investors.
According to him, the traditional manual approach to managing dividends, rights issues and bonus share distributions can no longer support the volume and complexity of transactions being recorded in the market.
“Speed, transparency and trust have become the defining requirements of modern capital markets. Investors expect corporate actions to be processed with the same efficiency they experience in other digital financial services,” he said.
Olugbemi noted that the increasing number of shareholders and transactions has heightened the need for automated systems capable of ensuring accurate record management, entitlement calculations, reconciliation and timely distribution of benefits.
He observed that delays and inefficiencies in corporate action administration could undermine investor confidence, particularly at a time when the market is seeking to attract new participants and deepen retail investor engagement.
Industry analysts said the development reflects a broader shift within Nigeria’s capital market as operators seek to leverage technology to improve service delivery and strengthen market confidence.
They noted that one of the major challenges confronting the market remains the issue of unclaimed dividends, which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) estimated at over N215 billion as of March 2024.
According to stakeholders, outdated shareholder records, incomplete identity verification and legacy paper-based systems have contributed significantly to the accumulation of unclaimed dividends over the years.
Market operators argue that improving data integrity and expanding digital shareholder management platforms could help address the problem while enhancing transparency across the corporate action value chain.
Coronation Registrars said it currently manages more than 2.9 million shareholder accounts and processes nearly two million transactions annually, providing a perspective on the operational demands associated with large-scale corporate actions.
The company disclosed that it processed approximately N1.28 trillion in dividend payments on behalf of issuers in 2025, highlighting the growing importance of robust market infrastructure in supporting shareholder value distribution.
According to the firm, investments in digital platforms and automated processing systems are becoming increasingly necessary as investors demand real-time access to information relating to dividends, rights issues, annual general meetings and other corporate actions.
Analysts believe that the next phase of growth in Nigeria’s capital market will be driven not only by the ability of companies to raise capital but also by the efficiency of institutions responsible for administering shareholder benefits and maintaining investor confidence.
With regulators intensifying efforts to strengthen market transparency and investor protection, operators said institutions that successfully combine technology, governance and execution discipline would play a central role in shaping the future of Nigeria’s capital market.
For stakeholders, the challenge is no longer whether corporate actions should be digitised, but how quickly market infrastructure can evolve to meet the expectations of an increasingly digital and demanding investor base.
