The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, has maintained that the commission has indeed acted within its powers to protect investors in the capital market space.

His assertion follows criticisms that the SEC has not done enough to protect investors during the liquidation of the 47 fund management companies as well as recent debt exchange programme undertaken by the Finance Ministry.

Rev. Ogbarmey Tetteh was speaking on PM Express Business Edition with host George Wiafe.

The programme will be aired on JOYNEWS at 9pm March 30, 2023.

Rev. Ogbarmey Tetteh explained the SEC is an institution guided by law to take specific actions, outside of such actions it cannot proceed.

He was reacting to calls by a section of the general public accusing the commission of not taking certain drastic actions in response to recent happenings in the capital market.

Mark to market valuation was needed to stabilise industry

Rev. Ogbamey Tetteh also justified the commission’s recent directive to Fund and Assets Managers to strictly use the Mark to Market approach, when it comes to the valuation of investments.

The SEC has come under criticism over how this directive has affected some investors and investment houses in the country.

However, Rev. Tetteh maintained that in investment, all the necessary steps must be taken to ensure that all stakeholders are handled equally.

The Mark to Market Directive

The SEC directed fund managers, custodians and trustees to use fair value/mark-to-market valuation method in valuing portfolios of collective investment schemes such as unit trusts and mutual funds.

This new method, which took effect on November 1, 2022, is to make all investments reflective of prevailing market values on the capital market and will result in some changes in the value of clients’ holdings.