The Fintech Sandbox Guidance Note which was instituted to control fintech innovations in mid-2018 is now ready, according to sources at Capital Markets Authority (CMA Kenya).
The final policy involved extensive internal and external deliberations between CMA and consultants. The policy has already undergone internal quality control and will soon be made available to stakeholders for validation before being made public.
In the meantime, CMA is currently hosting fintechs at its offices to gain further insights into how to improve the policy. Currently, the first step is towards capital market-specific fintechs that include:
- Robo Advisors
- Equity Crowdfunding
- Algorithmic Trading
Other fintechs allowed to play in this initial step include some elements of big Data and analytics and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) that do not involve cryptos.
The sandbox policy will be on mandatory 30-day public exposure soon for final comments. The notification, which should be published on the dailies anytime will help the CMA make the final report complete.
In the meantime, the CMA is concurrently engaging with potential candidates for the sandbox so that once the policy guidance note is approved by the CMA Board, it will immediately roll out.
CMA is also interested in considering blockchain or any other DLT component that is not necessarily crypto on a case-by-case basis. A database of these fintechs is already under preparation. One-on-one meetings and presentations are expected to start sometime in January 2019.
