By David Agba
Abuja
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that it is planning to grow non-interest capital market products to be 25 percent of the overall market capitalization.
This disclosure was made yesterday by the Director- General of SEC Mr Mounir Gwarzo in Abuja at a round table meeting with a delegation led by the Lord Mayor of London Alderman Alan Yarrow and Nigerian Regulators.
Gwarzo who was represented by the Executive Commissioner Corporate Services, Zakawanu Garuba, stated that “our goal is to boost non-interest capital market product innovation so that the segment can be at least a quarter (25%) of the overall market capitalization.”
SEC, he said wants “to build a strong regulatory regime for non-interest products, encourage stakeholders in the non-interest capital market and ensure the emergence of Nigeria as a prominent non-interest capital market hub both at the regional level and globally.”
Inspite of the immense opportunity present in non-interest products, Gwarzo lamented that Nigeria is faced with the challenge of lack of capacity.
Responding, Alderman Alan Yarrow, the Lord Mayor of London pledged the United Kingdom’s government support stressing that “two things were universally agreed on, Islamic finance will be massive and it’s here to stay.
“Alderman Alan Yarrow expressed concerns that “the difficulty of defining what Islamic finance actually is, is with different scholars and different countries supporting different rules. That is equally true here in Nigeria with about 88 million Muslims and 39 percent of the adult population unbanked.
“Alderman Alan Yarrow said there “is a huge opportunity to offer Islamic finance as an alternative investment and finance model for both Muslims and non Muslims alike.
Nigeria’s Exchange he said has a crucial role to play in that story since it is the second largest Exchange in sub-Saharan Africa describing it as “the Gateway to African markets and as such, the whole of Africa, to some extent, relies on Nigeria.”
