Capital Markets Authority voted most innovative regulator in Africa

Nairobi October 2, 2015…The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has received recognition for being the most innovative capital markets regulator in Africa. The award was conferred by Africa Investor, an investment and communications group, in New York recently.

The awards, which were launched in 2007 and linked to the Africa investor (Ai) Index Series, are Pan-African awards designed to recognize Africa’s best performing stock exchanges, listed companies, investment banks, research teams, regulators, socially responsible companies, and sovereign wealth and pension fund investors.

The CMA Acting Chief Executive, Mr Paul Muthaura, observed that the recognition was a testament to the efforts by the CMA to position Kenya’s capital markets as the investment destination of choice for domestic, regional, and international fund flows.

Mr Muthaura explained CMA has led industry innovations such as the development of the 10-year Capital Market Master Plan; development of a responsive regulatory framework, the most recent being Practice Guidance Note for Exchange Traded Funds; and corporate governance reforms including the development of a new Code of Corporate Governance Practices for Issuers of Securities to the Public and a Stewardship Code for Institutional Investors. The developments are expected to position the capital markets to play a pivotal role in mobilizing long term funding to support critical development projects in Kenya as espoused in the Vision 2030 Economic Blue Print.