SEC to grow non- interest capital market products

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC] is planning to grow non-interest capital market products to 25 percent of overall market capitalization.

Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo stated this on wednesday in Abuja at a round table meeting with a delegation led by the Lord Mayor of London Alderman Alan Yarrow and Nigerian Regulators.

Represented by Executive Commissioner Corporate Services, Zakawanu Garuba, the SEC DG said, “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.”

He further stated that the SEC was considering modalities for setting up a Sharia Advisory Council as a body of experts to advise on non-interest product applications.

To boost liquidity of non-interest products the SEC he added is “working with a committee to support the FMDQ platform to enable secondary market trading of the products. We are also engaging the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to obtain liquidity status for non-interest products (especially the sukuk).”

All these efforts he noted are hinged on the fact that “Nigeria has more than 80 million Muslims compared to Malaysia’s total population of 30 million. In addition, Nigeria has a larger economy than Malaysia’s, being the largest economy in Africa.”

To harness this potential, MounirGwarzo said proper planning was imperative which was “why at the SEC we set up an industry-wide Committee of experts last year to produce a 10-year master plan on non-interest capital market product. Their recommendations have been incorporated into the broader capital market master plan which we have begun implementing.