East Africa’s plan to integrate the stock exchanges of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, is expected to happen in the first quarter of 2021.
This disclosure was made by Bob Karina, Vice Chairman of the Nairobi Securities Exchange( NSE) in a recent interview.
“This project, that also involves the World Bank and the East Africa Community Secretariat in Arusha is on course and will be implemented in the first quarter of next year. Firms will be able to cross-list on the 5 exchanges with traders able to key in their orders which will be simultaneously displaced across at the exchanges,” said Karina.
There are a total of 4 stock exchanges dealing in equity and fixed income securities. These are the NSE in Kenya, RSE in Rwanda, DSE in Tanzania, and USE in Uganda while Burundi is currently working to establish its own exchange.
While the NSE and DSE are both automated, the USE and RSE are still manual using the open-outcry trading system.
Mr Karina, who is also the Founder of Faida Investment Bank said the current cumbersome process of physically transferring the share certificate from one bourse to another before it is converted to an electronic format again, will be eliminated.
Karina gave the example of Bank of Kigali shares listed at the NSE where shares have to be transferred to Rwanda and vice versa for any trading cycle to complete.
A seasoned stockbroker, Karina is also Chairman of Faida Investment Bank, Rwanda Stock Exchange and Norwich Union Properties Limited. He also sits on the boards of Central Deposit and Settlement Corporation(CDSC), Kenya Industrial Estates and is an accomplished corporate finance specialist.
Karina was chairman of the implementation committee that brought in the CDSC as well as the Automated Trading System(ATS) in 2006. He has seen the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) transform from the open outcry system in use when the exchange was first registered under the Societies Act by the then colonial British administration.
Karina has been instrumental in setting up of the Rwanda Stock Exchange where he has been its board vice chairman since 2012 to his appointment as chairman in 2020.
“Local investors should take advantage of bargain prices on several counters. The market is not as bad as it looks,” said Karina.
He added that the pandemic has a silver lining for the NSE, especially the new apps that now allows traders to work from home. Shareholders are also able to attend the annual general meeting virtually, increasing participation.
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