SEC raises capital necessities for brokers, fund managers, digital corporations 

Nigeria’s Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) has issued a far-reaching revision of capital necessities for nearly all capital market operators.

That is in response to a round launched by the Fee on January 16, 2026, which replaces the long-standing 2015 capital regime and units a compliance deadline of June 30, 2027.

The brand new framework goals to ‘enhance market resilience’, weed out undercapitalised gamers, and reward corporations with governance depth and scale.

What the info is saying 

The revised capital guidelines have an effect on brokers, sellers, fund managers, issuing homes, fintech corporations, and digital asset operators.

• For brokers, the minimal capital requirement triples from N200 million to N600 million, whereas sellers now require N1 billion, up from N100 million.
• Dealer-dealers face the steepest enhance from N300 million to N2 billion, reflecting their multi-role publicity throughout buying and selling, execution, and margin lending.
• Fund and portfolio managers are actually topic to a tiered construction.
• Managers overseeing belongings above N20 billion will want N5 billion in capital, whereas mid-tier managers should maintain N2 billion.
• Non-public fairness and enterprise capital corporations face necessities of N500 million and N200 million, respectively.

A dynamic rule additionally kicks in: any agency managing belongings above N100 billion should maintain no less than 10% of belongings below administration as capital.

Digital asset corporations, beforehand working in regulatory limbo, are actually absolutely captured.

• Exchanges and custodians should maintain N2 billion every, whereas tokenisation platforms and intermediaries face thresholds between N500 million and N1 billion.
• Even robo-advisers, thought of low-risk, should now preserve N100 million in capital.

Extra on the sweeping modifications 

• Issuing homes offering full underwriting companies should now maintain N7 billion in capital, whereas these providing advisory-only companies want N2 billion.
• Registrars, trustees, and underwriters face new flooring of N2.5 billion, N2 billion, and N5 billion, respectively.
• Even particular person funding advisers—traditionally low-capital operations—should now meet a N10 million threshold.
• Market infrastructure gamers have a few of the highest capital obligations. Composite exchanges and central counterparties are every anticipated to keep up N10 billion in capital, whereas clearinghouses require N5 billion.
• This alerts the SEC’s deal with preserving the soundness of systemic establishments inside Nigeria’s capital market ecosystem.

The digital asset section sees a transparent shift from casual exercise to formal oversight. With N2 billion required for digital exchanges and custodians, the SEC is sending a transparent message: innovation will likely be inspired solely when backed by strong capital.

What this implies 

The capital rule modifications are more likely to speed up a wave of consolidation, as smaller gamers wrestle to fulfill the steep thresholds.

Operators might downscale, merge, or exit, whereas others might search overseas funding or strategic partnerships to outlive.

Whereas this will likely shrink the variety of market individuals, it’s going to elevate the standard of those that stay.

For buyers, this implies a stronger security internet—operators with extra strong monetary cushions are higher positioned to climate shocks and shield shopper belongings.

For the SEC, the recalibration is strategic: fewer corporations with stronger governance and steadiness sheets.

The business now faces an 18-month window to comply, with the complete implementation deadline set for June 30, 2027. By then, Nigeria’s capital market might look leaner, but in addition considerably stronger.

What you must know 

• The brand new capital framework replaces the SEC’s 2015 capital rulebook, which had been extensively criticised for being outdated in a fast-evolving monetary panorama.
• The Fee’s transfer comes as collective funding schemes, digital belongings, and personal fairness funds proceed to develop in complexity and danger publicity.
• This replace additionally follows the SEC’s latest efforts to formalise the regulation of Digital Asset Service Suppliers (VASPs) via the introduction of the Digital Belongings Rulebook in 2023.
• That framework, mixed with the brand new capital necessities, factors to a future the place digital finance should coexist with stricter capital and compliance oversight.