SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) has put in place measures to expand the depth of the nation’s capital market and promote financial inclusion in the country.

This was disclosed by the Director General of the Commission, Mounir Gwarzo at a high level regional roundtable on non-interest capital market, last week in Kano. It was organised by the commission with the theme “Financing Development through Islamic Capital Market – A Viable Alternative. “

Gwarzo said: “Our role is to boost non-interest capital market product innovation so that the segment can be at least a quarter (25%) of the overall market capitalisation.

“We intend 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 added: “To harness this potential, proper planning is imperative. That is why at the SEC we set up an industry wide committee of experts last year to produce a 10-year master plan and we are confident that our own master plan objectives will be achieved as well as over the nect decade. “

The Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje commended the efforts of the commission in the area of promoting depth in non-interest capital market.

He assured that Kano State would be glad to be associated with the current development by the commission, stressing that; Kano would like to be seen as a base of Islamic banking and finance for financial market development.

The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, revealed that when he was the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, they were able to put some solid structures for non-interest banking system in the banking industry.

Sanusi said they did their best to ensure effective safety of the institutions in place, with the intent of having sound footing for the emerging economies.

He therefore called on the policy makers to realise and appreciate the role of non-interest capital market in bridging the gap in the nation’s financial institutions.