Effects of Unclaimed Dividends with In-House and Non-Inhouse Registrars: Evidence from the Nigerian Stock Market

The study aims to examine the effects of unclaimed dividends with in-house and non-in-house registrars in Nigeria. The study employed the use of sampled mean T-test and stochastic dominance to examine the effect of unclaimed dividends on in-house and non-in-house registrars from 2012-2019. The results revealed that in-house registrars set up by large companies in the Nigerian capital market have first-order stochastic dominance over the non-in-house registrars. This implies that in-house registrars can compromise the dividend policies of supervising authorities to create more unclaimed dividends in the system. The study recommends that the Securities and Exchange Commission should ensure stringent compliance with dividend-paying procedures by in-house registrars to reduce investors’ pains and ensure transparency and accountability in the market.