Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) says it has seen renewed interest in the corporate bond market despite threats posed by COVID-19.
Recent actions by the regulator to take action against directors on Imperial Bank over a messed-up corporate bond issuance has further boosted confidence in the bond market.
Enforcement action has also been taken against Real People Kenya Limited and the South African holding firm for misapplication of KSh 1.3 Billion medium-term note.
The latest issuers are Centum Investment Company’s KSh 3 Billion medium-term note and Acorn Investment Management Limited listing two of its REITs (D-REIT and I-REIT) on the NSE Unquoted Securities Platform worth KSh7.5 billion.
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Capital Markets Report Q1, 2021
Wyckliffe Shamiah, CMA Chief Executive, told a recent media briefing while launching the Capital Markets Soundness Report for Q1 2021 that Kenya’s projected economic growth will boost the recovery of capital markets.
He said CMA is focused on implementation of the Post COVID-19 Capital Markets Recovery Strategy.
This is especially in playing a facilitative role in promoting the uptake of capital market products and additional listings.
Shamiah disclosed CMA would engage the National Treasury to issue guidelines that will support County Bond programmes. Laikipia County has already expressed interest in issuing a county bond, a trend that is likely to be followed by other such jurisdictions.
CMA cautions that despite growing optimism in 2021, the pandemic still posed serious disruption risks.
The NSE market infrastructure has seen the bourse to a new Broker BackOffice and integrated and integrating its bond system with Refinitiv’s Fixed Income Call Outs Application.
“These solutions have enhanced robustness of the trading infrastructure building on the resilience of the local capital markets given the advances in network security, efficiency and stability,” said Shamiah.
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