Successful ₦4.65 Trillion Banking Recapitalisation:
A Test of Resilient Nigerian Capital Market

When the Central Bank of Nigeria announced its revised minimum capital requirements in March 2024, Nigeria's financial community confronted an inflection point of historic proportions. For the capital market, this was not merely an external stimulus — it was a summons. A summons to demonstrate that the market infrastructure we have built, the investor community we have cultivated, and the regulatory architecture we have constructed are equal to the demands of genuine national transformation. Two years on, the verdict is resoundingly affirmative. The Nigerian capital market mobilised ₦4.65 trillion in twenty-four months, onboarded hundreds of thousands of new investors through digital platforms, sustained secondary market performance at record-breaking levels, and maintained the integrity and transparency standards that underpin enduring investor confidence. This is not a modest achievement. It is a structural proof of concept — and its significance extends far beyond the banking sector. This policy perspective represents the Securities and Exchange Commission's institutional assessment of the recapitalisation exercise: what it demanded, what the market delivered, what it signals for Nigeria's regulatory ambitions, and what must now follow. The analysis is grounded in the Commission's supervisory observations throughout the 24-month programme, informed by the principles of the Investments and Securities Act 2025 — the most comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria's securities legislation in two decades — and benchmarked against the standards of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), of which Nigeria is an Ordinary Member. The Commission has consistently applied IOSCO's Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation as the normative framework for its supervisory conduct throughout this exercise. The narrative that follows is an honest one. Where the market performed superbly, that performance is named and commended. Where challenges persist, they are acknowledged with the candour that institutional credibility requires. The goal is not self-congratulation; it is shared understanding of what a resilient capital market looks like in practice — and what a transformative one must yet become.

Dr. Emomotimi Agama

Director General

Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria