The Investment and Securities Act (‘ISA’) created an independent specialized judicial body called the Investment and Securities Tribunal (‘the Tribunal’) and conferred it with exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate on capital market disputes.  The exclusive jurisdiction donated to the Tribunal, as noted above, is delineated into original and appellate jurisdiction.

More specifically, and as it relates to the present paper, the original jurisdiction of the Tribunal is invoked when there is a question of law or the dispute is between the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’ or ‘the Commission’) and stakeholders in the capital market,  or arising from the administration, management, and operation of collective investment scheme.

As regards disputes concerning collective investment scheme, a major issue that was the subject of contention, as regards the challenge to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to entertain the dispute, in the case of Olusola Akinyede v Stanbic IBTC & MTNN was whether the subject matter of the Claimant’s suit was a private placement or a collective investment scheme.

For this reason, the aim of this article is to identify the key determinant of when an investment vehicle, the subject matter of a dispute or suit, is a collective investment scheme or otherwise (e.g., a private placement), which will determine whether it is the original or appellate jurisdiction of the Tribunal that will be invoked to entertain the case.