The problems associated with dividend payments is not lost on any serious investor. It is either you get your dividends late or you don’t even receive it at all. A lot of this problems arise because of the cumbersome way in which dividends are paid in Nigeria. However, the Punch Newspaper reports First Registrars (a former subsidiary of First Bank) has introduced a product to the market that attempts to solve some of this problems
The product called FirstDividendPlus Prepaid Card is a premium prepaid card issued to the shareholders into which dividend amounts due to them are automatically loaded/credited on the payable date.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, First Registrars, Mr. Bayo Olugbemi, said that the card was a solution that would cater to the needs of the average investor in the Nigerian market. He said,
“As a company that has witnessed the problems investors face in claiming their dividends, this company decided to undertake the challenge of researching into an avenue that would reduce all the hassles that the average Nigerian investor faces in an attempt to claim his dividend at the end of the financial year and that was why we introduced FirstDividend Plus.
“The beauty of this service is that shareholders do not necessarily need a bank account to be able to get value for their dividends payable on investments. And once issued, the shareholder can walk up to any Automated Teller Machine point, regardless of the bank, to withdraw cash or make cashless transactions.”
I hope other registrars adopt this innovative product as I believe it will seriously address the issues of unclaimed dividends. First Registrars already have an E-Notifier which allows shareholders to receive SMS alerts right on their mobile phones on information, transactions and updates relating to their share accounts with First Registrars. Such alerts include but not limited to the following:notifies subscribers of bonus payments
Information from Punch was used to write this article
