Article compiled by Jonathan Amable, Senior Associate and Aniela Allotey, Associate at Ghanaian member firm Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued guidelines to regulate the registration of securities issued by public companies, closed-end collective investment schemes, statutory bodies, local government authorities and any other entity which issues securities to the public. The Securities Industry (Registration of Securities) Guidelines, 2023 (SEC/GUI/002/02/2023) (the Registration of Securities Guidelines), provide for:
- registration of securities to be issued to the public or issuers who intend traded on an SEC licensed over-the-counter market);
- the registration requirements (i.e., information and supporting documents to be provided);
- the procedure for registration;
- the registration fee payable to the SEC; and
- the sanctions for non-compliance.
Section 145 of the Securities Industry Act, 2016 (Act 929) as amended (the Securities Industry Act) requires the registration of all securities to be issued to the public (except securities issued with an original tenor of up to 1 year and Government of Ghana securities). The Securities Industry Act also requires the SEC to issue registration certificates in respect of registered securities, and prohibits unregistered securities from being admitted to trading on any securities exchange, or transferred, sold or offered for sale to the public on any secondary market. It is expected that the implementation of the Registration of Securities Guidelines will assist the SEC to monitor, detect and prevent market abuse and achieve its objective of promoting the growth and development of an efficient, fair and transparent securities market in Ghana.
