The Board of Directors of the Nairobi Securities Exchange have admitted CBA Capital Ltd., and Equity Investment Bank Ltd., as trading participants. The admission of CBA Capital and Equity Investment Bank, shows the commitment of the Board to opening up membership of the Exchange in order to affirm Kenya’s position as the financial services hub of East and Central Africa.
In making the announcement, Mr. Bob Karina, Vice Chairman of the Nairobi Securities Exchange noted, “The NSE, through a clear and transparent process, is keen to admit new trading participants that will expand access to the Kenyan market. This is part of our move to being a demutualised exchange with self regulatory responsibilities. Priority will be given to market participants with existing licenses from the CMA.”
CBA Capital Limited which was licensed as an investment bank by the Capital Markets Authority in 2003, is an affiliate company of the Commercial Bank of Africa Group. CBA Capital intends to leverage on the M-Shwari customer base to provide local and regional access to Kenya’s capital markets. CBA is one of East Africa’s largest banks and has operations in Kenya and Tanzania, with immediate plans to expand into Uganda. CBA Capital is also registered as a Nominated Advisor by the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Equity Investment Bank Limited received an investment banking license from the Capital Markets Authority in 2008. It is an affiliate company of the Equity Bank Group. The Equity brand is associated with the empowerment of the unbanked and the poorly banked segments of the population. It has subsidiaries in Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania. Equity Bank had over 8.2 million customers in Kenya alone and over 7,000 agents. In Kenya it currently has 156 branches spread out across all 47 counties.
The Exchange intends to use technology to make it safer, faster and cheaper for an investor to trade securities listed on the NSE from anywhere in the world. It is therefore only natural that the Exchange partners with CBA Capital and Equity Investment Bank who are already licensees of the CMA to use technology to extend its reach to investors in the region and in the diaspora. The NSE is on course to list on the Alternative Investment Market Segment (AIMS), before the end of 2013.
Source: NSE
