The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), under the Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Fund Managers/’Wonder Banks’ have once more alerted the public on the resurgence of the operators.

According to a statement, the committee, whose members also include the Police, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), noted that the “unscrupulous illegal operators offer extra-ordinary returns on deposits or investments placed with them, only to disappear after sometime, thereby jeopardizing the funds.”

The statement said the information has become necessary to advise members of the public that the operators are not licensed by either the CBN or SEC as ‘fund managers’ or ‘investment managers.’

The various illegal schemes, the committee stressed, have continued to exist in different forms and styles in various part of the country, despite several efforts to curb their illegal activities, particularly, given the huge amount of money belonging to unsuspecting members of the public trapped in the institution.

Continuing, the statement strongly advised “investors wishing to invest in any financial product with any ‘fund manager’ or any similar institution to conduct necessary due diligence with the CBN or SEC to verify their status and confirm that the institutions are licensed by the relevant authorities to carry out the financial activity.”

Source: Daily Independent