CAPITAL MARKET AUTHORITY OF KENYA STRATEGIZE ON ISLAMIC CAPITAL MARKET PRODUCTS.

Kenya ambitions to be East Africa's Islamic Finance hub has sparked various subsectors in the Kenyan financial markets to develop their respective initiatives to achieve that goal. One such subsector is Capital Market Authority (CAM), which come out today in the workshop organized by CAM in partnership with IRTI and Awal consulting at Tribe Hotel in Nairobi highlighting a priority objective of the Authority as " to accelerate the building of critical mass for development of a significant Islamic Capital Markets industry by broadening the range of available Shariah compliant products and services that in the medium term qualify Kenya for inclusion in the Islamic Finance Country Index as outlined in the Capital Markets Master Plan."

OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP.

The workshop aims to explore current institutional, policy and legal impediments to development of the subsector and practical recommendations for implementation. Few significant objectives of the strategic roundtable workshop are:

1. To provide a platform for sharing valuable experience, guidance and recommendation from developed market from international and local experts in setting the Islamic financial regulatory framework in the current Kenya's financial service industry.

2. To set strategic approaches, initiatives and plan to be taken by regulators and industry players in implementing such framework.

3. To identify development priorities in addressing market constraint faced by Kenya's Islamic financial service industry.

4. To suggest practical solutions to solve issues and constraints faced by the industry.

5. To identify key support areas needed by the industry in order to ensure sustainable growth of the industry.

KEY CAPITAL MARKET AUTHORITY INITIATIVES.

Kenya has been analyzing challenges facing Islamic Finance industry for some times. Key among the challenges are, lack of legal and regulatory framework, limited technical human capacity to serve the industry and Shariah authority. To ensure the country meets its strategic goal in regards to Islamic Finance, Mr. Joseph Mwenda mentions four strategic initiatives to be taken by CMA starting from 2015, these are:

1. Formulation of guidelines to facilitate issuance of Sukuk (Islamic Bonds) as well as Islamic collective investment schemes, put in place internal policies and manual to guide CMA in its activities in relation to Islamic Finance.

2. Undertake capacity building by training CMA officials as well as the other professionals important to enable the proper functioning of Islamic capital market products.

3. Formulate Shariah governance framework which shall lead to the establishment of national Shariah supervisory board as well as aligning the CMA players with with AAOIFI and IFSB standards.

4. Provide public education and awareness in order to remove misconceptions, foster understanding and sustain Islamic finance industry.

Above mentioned bold initiatives comes into light though Kenya has a Muslim population at only about 15 percent of 40 million. Despite of that, Kenya has great potential to remain the main market mover of Islamic financial market for East Africa region as it currently host two Islamic banks and more about eight Islamic banking windows. It is also a home of one full fledged Takaful and Re-takaful institution. With these market players on the stage, it is important to move with speed to develop Islamic capita market products to support the existing institutions but also provide Kenya with cash it needs for its development.

Further reading visit:

http://www.cma.or.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=509:cma-hosts-islamic-finance-roundtable-2&catid=13:news-and-events&Itemid=230