Lagos, Nigeria — June 8, 2026. The Association of Corporate Trustees (ACT) concluded its 2026 Annual Conference, bringing together regulators, legal practitioners, financial institutions, and governance experts to examine the evolving landscape of trusteeship within a rapidly transforming regulatory environment of Nigeria.

With the theme: “A New Legal Order: Corporate Trustees at the Intersection of Regulatory Reforms”, the event provided a timely platform to explore the impact of ongoing reforms in relation to fiduciary responsibilities, investor protection, strengthening integrity of the capital market through compliance in line with global standards, cross-border investment monitory and institutional accountability.

Other key issues highlighted during the expert panel discussion included KYC and due diligence; taxes; infrastructure bond investments; recent recapitalization efforts in the financial sector, among others.

The conference comes at a critical juncture as Nigeria’s financial ecosystem continues to adapt to enhanced regulatory frameworks, technological advancement, and global best practices.

Speaking on the timely relevance of the discussion, the President of the Association of Corporate Trustees (ACT), Omolola Iyinolakan noted that there has been multiple interception of various political and financial reforms that corporate trustees have had to adopt while executing their fiduciary responsibilities.

“The theme of this conference reflects our commitment to positioning trustees as proactive agents of compliance, transparency, and investor confidence. Trustees are actually at the interception of a lot of reforms but I dare say that it is not just the corporate trustees. The reforms we have seen over the last one year do not affect the capital market alone, it has had ripple effect on the entire populace”, Iyinolakan stated.

“Our conference has helped us to explore very robust conversations that addressed our concerns and a lot of questions answered around market recapitalization, shifting tax frameworks, and evolving compliance rules”, she noted.

The prominent Nigeria legal reforms highlighted during the conversation include the ISA 2025; Data Privacy Act 2023; Tax Act 2025 (capital gain tax) and the regulations on the recapitalization for the capital market operators.

In his opening remarks, the Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama, who also represented the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Mr. Raymond Omachi emphasized the urgency of aligning trusteeship practices with the realities of a new regulatory era involving legislative adjustments of evident systemic transformations.
“The current regulatory reforms are bold steps that are necessary to create a new economy and to create a new order. Hence, we are living through a rare convergence; the enactment of the Investment and Security Act 2025, the progressive activation of the Nigeria Capital Market institutional infrastructure,the emergence of fiscal and fiduciary instruments growing regulatory imperative to align the global best practices”, Dr. Agama explained.

“Corporate Trusteeship, long positioned at the interception of law; financial and fiduciary obligations, now provides a vantage point of extraordinary strategic importance.

“The ISA provides explicit and expanded recognition of the trustee function in the capital market, it articulates greater precision of the obligations in the context of policies of investment schemes while it established clear accountability frameworks”, he further noted.

He stressed further that “Corporate Trustees are not a peripheral player in Nigeria’s economic development story, but a foundational one; the growth of the capital market and through it, the financing of infrastructural projects as well as other metrics of economic development run in part through the quality, strength and integrity of the practice of corporate trustees”

He urged corporate trustees to ensure deliberately investing in systems, talents and processes that are commensurate with the integrated expectations of the regulations.

The discussions throughout the event underscored the central role corporate trustees play in safeguarding the integrity of financial markets and ensuring compliance with emerging legal standards.

The high-level event featured panel discussion on the topic: “The New Rules of Money: Navigating Recapitalization, Taxation & Regulatory Transformation” covered matters such as regulatory convergence, the impact of digitalization on trusteeship, ESG integration in fiduciary duties, and the management of systemic risks.
Participants also examined case studies illustrating the practical challenges trustees face in implementing the new regulatory directives.

A recurring theme across session was the need for continuous capacity building and collaboration between regulators and industry stakeholders and leveraging of the laws for growth while ensuring data-driven approach, oversights and institutionalized governance structures.

The experts stressed the need for readiness for the next trends of regulatory reforms, fiduciary expansions and regulatory compliance amid innovative monetary transactions and data protection strengthened by the necessary institutional structures required.

The conference concluded with a shared resolve among participants to strengthen the role of corporate trustees as guardians of trust and accountability within Nigeria’s financial system while sustained dialogues and coordinated action would enhance the effectiveness of the regulatory reforms and deepen confidence in the capital market.

PRESS RELEASE – Association of Corporate Trustees (ACT)