Renewed demand for information and counsel on investment decisions has rekindled interest in advisory licences from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), with the regulator issuing higher approvals to the market segment.
In the quarter ended September 30, the CMA issued four new investment advisor licences, the first such issuances since the fourth quarter of 2024 when it gave three. The approvals have lifted the number of licensed investment advisers to 26.
The four recipients were Rock Advisors Limited, Legatum Capital Advisory Limited, Silverhouse Capital Limited and Jalia Advisers & Intermediaries Limited.
The resurgence in investment advisory services shows corporates are turning to the capital markets to raise capital, while retail investors have also been turning to professional investment advisors as they embrace offshore markets and alternative asset classes such as crypto.
“Corporate clients are struggling with decisions on where to deploy surplus capital, while others are seeking alternative means of raising capital away from traditional avenues such as bank loans,” Silverhouse Capital Chief Executive Officer Robert Ndubi told the Business Daily.
“At an individual level, people are struggling to make decisions on whether to buy land, stocks or government bonds.”
Investment advisors are market professionals who undertake analysis and research on capital market securities, and advise investors on such securities at a commission.
The fund manager licence is now the most sought after approval by market intermediaries, driven largely by retail investor interests in collective investment schemes (CISs) or unit trusts.
The CMA has licensed nearly twice as many fund managers as investment advisors at 48.
Fund managers oversee collective investment schemes, registered ventures or capital companies. The assets under management (AUM) of the collective investment schemes amounted to Sh596.3 billion as at the end of June 2025, having grown from Sh176 billion two years earlier.
According to CMA data, fund managers are the second largest market intermediaries by working capital as at June 2025 with net assets of Sh7.5 billion, after investment banks had a net asset base of Sh9.7 billion in the period.
Investment advisers had net assets of Sh263 million ranking as the smallest class of major market intermediaries, behind stockbrokers who had Sh1.8 billion in net assets and online forex brokers who had Sh2.1 billion in net assets.
The CMA also licenses other players including authorised securities dealers, real estate investment trust managers (Reit), intermediary service platform providers, derivatives and coffee brokers.
During the quarter to September, CMA licensed other intermediaries including authorised securities dealers Finstrust Securities Limited and Point Forty Investment Advisory Limited.
TPXM Global Kenya Limited was licensed as a non-dealing online foreign exchange broker while Enwealth Impact Debt Fund was licensed as an alternative investment fund.
CMA says the rise in the number of market intermediaries is a marker of confidence in Kenya’s capital markets.
“The Authority continues to license diverse categories of intermediaries to strengthen investor confidence and support the growth and development of Kenya’s capital markets,” CMA said.
The return of bullish market sentiment with the recovery of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is expected to provide further momentum to the entry of new market participants.
Local equites have cemented their position as the top asset class of 2025, marking a year-to-date return of 52.2 percent as of Wednesday.
