CMA Publishes Regulations Governing FinTech Firms

A draft on regulations governing the operations of financial technology firms (FinTech) in the country has been published by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). CMA says the draft Regulatory Sandbox Policy guidance note sets fourth eligibility, application, safeguard and testing requirements for applicants to be permitted to operate.

A sandbox is a custom supervisory environment which allows companies offering innovative products to conduct live tests for their products within a limited scale before putting them on the market. Paul Muthaura, CEO, CMA says: “The sandbox will help firms rolling out innovative products to test them on a limited scale, reducing the cost and time of fully rolling out and ensuring the safety of consumers.”

Moreover, this move will also save firms from losses of products in case they are declined in the market. CMA will rely on evidence gathered at the testing step to regulate the products. Mr. Muthaura added: “For innovations to be tested, they should have the potential to deepen and develop Kenya’s capital markets.” The policy guidance note, however, is open for audit by the general public for a period of 30 days.