Shares Saver

Employee share schemes

How employee funds are protected in Nigeria

The regulatory safeguards, structural protections and independent oversight that protect participants and their money under a Shares Saver-administered scheme.

Speak to our teamHow Shares Saver works

Registered in your name

The registrar records you as the holder — not a Shares Saver nominee account and not a pooled fund.

Trades executed by licensed brokers

We are not a stockbroker. Every purchase is placed on the NGX by an SEC-licensed broker partner.

Money held separately

Contributions sit in a client account until they buy shares. They are never working capital.

Six layers of protection

CSCS Direct Ownership Registration

Allotted shares are registered directly in each employee's name at the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS). Ownership is held by the employee — not by the employer or Shares Saver — making shares legally independent of the financial health of either entity.

Segregated Trust Account

Employee payroll deductions are held in a dedicated trust account under a formal trust deed, separate from the operating accounts of both the employer and Shares Saver. An independent trustee — typically a licensed financial institution — holds the account. Scheme funds cannot be accessed by the employer company or used to settle its debts.

SEC Nigeria Regulatory Oversight

Employee share investment schemes for Nigerian listed companies are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC Nigeria). The scheme must be structured in accordance with SEC Rules on Share Purchase Plans and is subject to annual compliance reporting. SEC oversight provides an independent regulatory check on scheme operations.

NGX Listing Rule Compliance

Companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) must comply with NGX post-listing requirements governing employee share schemes. This includes mandatory disclosure of the scheme and its key terms in annual reports, providing transparency to all shareholders including participants.

Independent Trustee

The scheme trust deed appoints an independent trustee responsible for holding scheme assets separately from the company. The trustee has a fiduciary duty to participants and is required to act in their interests — providing an independent check on the administration of the scheme.

Protection Against Employer Insolvency

Segregated trust funds are not available to creditors in an employer insolvency. CSCS-registered shares are already legally owned by individual employees and are entirely outside the employer's balance sheet. In a wind-down scenario, employees retain access to their registered shares through any licensed NGX stockbroker.

Regulated by Nigerian authorities

SEC Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), the CSCS, CAMA 2020 and FIRS each govern a part of how an employee share scheme is run, held and taxed.

What Shares Saver doesCollects contributions, instructs brokers, tracks your holdings, produces your documents
What the regulated broker doesPlaces the order on the NGX, settles the trade, files the transfer with the registrar
What nobody doesTell you which shares to buy. We are not investment advisers and we don’t take a view
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Questions

Questions answered

If the employer company enters administration or liquidation, employee shares that have been allotted and registered at CSCS in the employee's name are entirely unaffected — they are the legal property of the employee, not the company. Unvested shares held in the trust fund are also protected from company creditors because they are held in a segregated trust account, not in the company's own accounts. The trustee is obligated to deal with those assets in accordance with the scheme trust deed.

Educational information only — not investment, legal or tax advice. Share values can fall as well as rise. All securities transactions are carried out through SEC-regulated stockbrokers.

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