How to Update Your Details With a Share Registrar in Nigeria

To update your details with a share registrar in Nigeria, you send a written change request, with supporting evidence, to the registrar of each company you hold shares in, and you ask your stockbroker to make the same change on your CSCS account. There is no single place that updates every record at once. Each registrar keeps its own copy of your name, address, signature and bank mandate, and a change made with one does not reach the others.

Why Your Details Sit in More Than One Place

A Nigerian shareholder usually has at least two sets of records. The Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) holds the electronic record of your shares under your Clearing House Number (CHN), and that record is maintained through your stockbroker. Separately, every company you own appoints a registrar, and that registrar keeps the company's register of members, pays its dividends and sends its notices.

If you own shares in six companies that use four different registrars, your details exist in five places: once in the CSCS and once with each of the four registrars. Holdings that are still on paper certificates exist only on the registrar's side. This is the reason a shareholder who moved house years ago can receive mail from one company and nothing from another.

Details That Commonly Need Updating

• Address, email and phone number: the registrar uses these for annual reports, meeting notices, corporate action circulars and any query about your account.
• Name: after marriage, after a formal change of name, or to correct a spelling error or an abbreviation made when the shares were first bought.
• Signature: registrars compare the signature on any instruction against the specimen on file. A signature that has changed over twenty years is a frequent cause of rejected instructions.
• Bank account: the e-dividend mandate that tells the registrar where to pay your dividends. This has its own form and its own bank verification step, covered in our separate guide to updating bank details with a registrar.
• Identity numbers: many registrars now ask for a BVN, and some ask for a NIN, so that old records can be tied to a verified identity.

Why Mismatches Block Dividends

A registrar pays a dividend only to a bank account in the shareholder's own name, and it validates the mandate by matching the name on the register against the name on the bank account. If the register says Adaobi N. Okeke and the bank account says Adaobi Nwosu-Eze, the match fails and the payment is held as unclaimed until the difference is explained.

The same thing happens on the CSCS side. If your CSCS name differs from the registrar's name for the same person, a bonus issue or a dematerialised certificate may not be credited to your CHN, because the two records do not appear to belong to one person. Small differences matter: a missing middle name, initials in place of full names, or the order of surname and first name.

How to Make the Change, Step by Step

1. List every company you hold and the registrar for each one. The registrar is named in the company's annual report and on its NGX company page, and your broker can confirm it.
2. Get each registrar's own change-of-details form or instructions from its website. Forms differ between registrars, so do not reuse one registrar's form for another.
3. Gather the evidence for the change. For a change of address this is usually proof of the new address. For a change of name it is the document that caused the change, such as a marriage certificate, together with whatever else the registrar specifies, which commonly includes a sworn affidavit and a newspaper publication of the change of name.
4. For a change of signature, expect to be asked for identification and for your new signature to be confirmed by your bank or another verifier the registrar accepts.
5. Attach a valid government-issued photo ID and quote your CHN and any registrar account number shown on old dividend advice or correspondence.
6. Submit the request through the channel the registrar accepts, keep a copy and an acknowledgement, and ask the registrar to confirm in writing when the record has been changed.
7. Give your stockbroker the same evidence and ask them to update your CSCS account, so that the depository record and the registrar records carry an identical name and address.

Corrections Are Not the Same as Changes

Registrars generally distinguish between a change of name, where your legal name really has changed, and a correction, where the register has always been wrong. A misspelt surname on a certificate issued in 1994 is a correction. Registrars typically ask for evidence that the person on the register and the person in front of them are the same, which may include an affidavit, identification in the correct name and any original documents that carry the misspelling. The registrar decides what it will accept, so ask before you swear any document.

When the Holder Has Died

A registrar will not change the name on a holding from a deceased person to a relative through a change-of-details request. That is a transmission of shares, and it requires a grant of probate or letters of administration. Our guides to inherited shares and to transferring shares after the death of a shareholder explain that process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I update my details with the registrar or with my broker?

Both. Your broker updates your CSCS account, and each registrar updates its own register. Neither update flows automatically to the other in every case, so treat them as separate tasks and check that the name and address match across all of them when you finish.

I got married. Do my shares have to be in my married name?

The shares remain yours under either name. What matters in practice is that the name on the register matches the name on the bank account that receives your dividends and the name on your identification. If your bank account and ID are now in your married name, the register usually needs to follow.

How much does a registrar charge to update details?

It varies by registrar and by the type of change, and some changes carry no charge. Check the registrar's website or ask its customer service desk before you submit. Costs for affidavits and newspaper publications are separate and are paid to the court registry and the newspaper.

How long does a change of name or address take?

There is no single timeline. It depends on the registrar, on whether your documents are complete and on whether the registrar needs to verify anything with a third party. Ask the registrar what to expect and follow up using your acknowledgement if you hear nothing.

Can I update my details from outside Nigeria?

Many registrars accept scanned or couriered documents, and some run online portals. A registrar may ask for documents signed abroad to be notarised. Ask the registrar which forms of verification it accepts from shareholders living overseas before you send originals.

What happens to dividends paid while my details were wrong?

Dividends that could not be paid are held as unclaimed against your holding. Once the register and your mandate are in order, you can ask the registrar to confirm what is outstanding and how to claim it. Our guide to claiming unclaimed dividends covers that process.