Kenya gets first locally licensed online foreign exchange trading platform

NAIROBI, KENYA: EGM Securities has launched the country’s first locally regulated foreign exchange electronic trading platform, opening up domestic forex trading to a broader range of investors, EGM’s chief executive said on Wednesday.

Kenyan investors who wished to trade currencies on the Internet have previously had access to international brokers, but none was overseen by the local market regulator, the Capital Markets Authority.

The Kenyan shilling is one of the most traded currencies in sub-Saharan Africa. Dollar/shilling currency trading is regulated by the central bank, and will therefore be excluded from the platform.

“We of course do not offer the dollar shilling currency pair because the regulations don’t allow us but we are able to offer up to 61 currency pairs, the major currencies, the minors and the exotics,” Kevin Ng’ang’a, EGM’s CEO said.

He said users will be required to deposit as little as Sh10,000 ($100) for them to be able to start trading on the platform, which will not be providing dealing, services itself.

“All you need is an Internet connection,” he said.