The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to Director-General (DG) The Reverend Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, is demystifying the capital market through its "The Time with SEC" campaign.

In order to enable their meaningful and informed involvement in the market, he claimed that it was assisting the investing public in better understanding what items were available in the sector.

Rev. Tetteh made this statement at the first "Time with SEC" Tamale edition investor education session held by the SEC in the Northern Region.

The programme, which is a flagship initiative of the SEC, forms part of the Commission’s strategic thrust of educating members of the investing public and other key stakeholders about SEC, the Ghanaian capital market and other important investment topics.

It was on the theme: “Understanding the Role of SEC in the Capital Market”, and featured topics such as “how to make use of the capital market”-buying shares, collective investments schemes and capital raising- and “how to identify Ponzi or Pyramid Schemes.”

The event was also used by the Commission to provide the latest information on the Government Bailout Programme as well as share other updates in the securities industry.

He said significant steps that had been taken to strengthen the securities industry included the issuance of important Guidelines for Market Operators, such as the Corporate Governance Code for Listed Companies 2020 (SEC/CD/001/10/2020) and Securities Industry (Conduct of Business) Guidelines 2020 (SEC/GUI/004/10/2020).

Others are the introduction of more stringent licensing requirements; the launch of a 10-year Capital Market Master Plan to serve as a blueprint for the growth and development of the Ghanaian Capital Market, and the implementation of a nationwide investor education programme.

The rest are close collaboration with Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) such as the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.

Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, the Northern Regional Minister, said the capital market was a very important part of Ghana’s financial industry because it brought together suppliers of capital and other players.

Naa Yab Gulkpe, Alhaji Naa Alhassan, Paramount Chief of Tamale and Chairman of the programme, whose speech was read on his behalf, thanked the Commission for the engagement.

He said the capital market was of utmost significance to growing economies because they (economies) needed new forms of financial intermediation to finance investments that were either long-term or too risky for commercial banks to venture into.

“Such long-term financing makes the capital market an important driver for spurring economic growth and innovation,” he said.

He noted that the high level of ignorance among the investing public was a challenge that must be tackled because in many cases people who fell victim to fraudulent investment schemes were not well informed about investment and capital market activities.

“I, therefore, applaud the Securities and Exchange Commission once again for looking beyond the national capital for this outreach programme,” he added.