By Chuks Emele
(Story updated with Chaka’s statement.)
Nigeria’s Investments and Securities Tribunal passed a ruling to stop fintech company Chaka from offering offshore stocks without appropriate registration.
The ruling was made at the behest of the Securities and Exchange Commissions which had filed a complaint at the tribunal according to a statement posted on the website of the Nigerian capital market regulator.
SEC accused Chaka of engaging “in investment activities, including providing a platform for the purchase of shares in foreign companies such as Google, Amazon and Alibaba” without requisite approvals.
The interim order restrains “Chaka Technologies Limited, and its promoters from advertising or offering for sale shares, stock or other securities of companies or other entities,” SEC said in the statement. Hearing in the case was set for January 21.
“In response to the recently published SEC statement, our legal and operations teams are working to accelerate a resolution,” Chief Executive Officer Tosin Osibodu.
said in a statement on Twitter. “In the meantime, please be assured that your investments remain safe through Citi Investments (using the Chaka platform), and will continue to be custodied by an SEC-regulated broker.”
Chaka was launched in Lagos in October 2019, with Osibodu promising subscribers trading access to 37 stock exchanges around the world, including the New York and NASDAQ platforms. Those with Chaka accounts were allowed to invest with as little as 50 dollars.