In Kenya, the agency that regulates Forex trading is known as the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya, or CMA. The CMA maintains a searchable list of licensees which you can use to look up a Forex broker to see whether they are regulated. The CMA also enforces capital markets regulations, including those governing online Forex brokers.
Is the CMA a legitimate regulator?
Yes, the CMA is a legitimate regulator in Kenya. There may be some confusion, because you sometimes will see the CMA refer to itself as a "body corporate," or even as a "company" (i.e., winning Company of the Year at the Kenya Quality Awards in 2026). This may make you wonder if it is a private business masquerading as a regulator.
But the CMA is an official agency. It was established in 1989 under the Capital Markets Act (Cap. 485A). The specific framework for licensing and regulating online Forex brokers was introduced through the Capital Markets (Online Foreign Exchange Trading) Regulations in 2017.
What does it mean to be a "body corporate?" It means that the agency can do things like sue another party, be sued, or enter contracts. So, the phrase reflects a structural reality, but does not make the CMA a private company.
Responsibilities of the CMA
The CMA is in charge of regulating the capital markets sector in Kenya. Some of its duties include:
- Creating guidelines for corporate asset allocation
- Creating and maintaining a securities market
- Protecting the interests of investors, including with the operation of a compensation fund
- Licensing and approvals for financial businesses
- Investor education
- Enforcing securities laws
CMA oversight extends beyond issuing and renewing licenses. The Authority describes its market-supervision function as conducting "continuous inspection" of licensed intermediaries for regulatory compliance. The online Forex regulations also empower it to inspect brokers' books, records and systems and to take action following an inspection.
Regarding cryptocurrency trading, on 22 July, 2026, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury published the Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations 2026 under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025. These form Kenya's first comprehensive framework for regulating virtual assets.
According to the legal alert, the CMA regulates some virtual asset activities, while others are regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). The Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations 2026 clarifies that anyone wishing to operate a trading platform or system must apply to the CMA for approval. So, that puts cryptocurrency trading under the CMA's oversight.
Who should register with the CMA?
The following types of entities should register with the CMA if they want to do business with Kenyans:
- Institutions
- Derivatives brokers
- Investment banks
- Stockbrokers
- Non-dealing online foreign exchange broker
- Online foreign exchange money manager
- Authorized securities dealers
- Fund managers
- Investment advisers
- Authorized depositories
- REIT managers
- Coffee brokers
- REIT trustees
- Authorized real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Approved collective investment schemes
- Approved employee share ownership plans (ESOPs)
- Dealing online foreign exchange broker
- Corporate trustees
- Intermediary service platform provider
- Venture Capital
The online list of licensees at CMA's website is easy to search by category. You can click on the category you want, and it will show you all businesses with that registration type.
It is worth noting that there is a category for dealing Forex brokers, and another for non-dealing Forex brokers.
A dealing Forex broker acts as a market maker, trading as a principal, meaning it can take the other side of a client's trade. A non-dealing Forex broker connects clients to the Forex market for a commission or a markup on spreads, without acting as a market maker.
An online Forex money manager manages clients' Forex portfolios and makes trading decisions on their behalf for a fee.
At the time of this writing, there are very few licensed dealing Forex brokers. The vast majority are non-dealing Forex brokers.
Registration and compliance requirements
Companies can apply to be regulated by the CMA through the regulator's Online Applications Portal, or by hard copy.
The guidelines for online Forex brokers can be found on the CMA's website.
For example, here are the capital requirements as laid out in the document:
Paid up share capital (>= Kshs. 50 million for a dealing license and >= Kshs. 30 million for non-dealing license)
Liquid capital (x ≥ The higher of Kshs. 30,000,000 or 8% of total liabilities)
An undertaking to maintain at all times, liquid capital of- Thirty million shillings or eighty percent of total liabilities whichever is higher in the case of a dealing or a non-dealing foreign exchange broker.
Kshs are Kenyan shillings or KES.
As described in The Capital Markets (Online Foreign Exchange Trading) Regulations, applicants for a CMA online Forex license must be companies incorporated in Kenya and limited by shares. An overseas broker must therefore apply through a Kenyan-incorporated entity, such as a local subsidiary.
There is an application fee of KES 10,000. That is equivalent to around $77 US Dollars at the time of this writing.
You can view a full checklist of all the application requirements in the Regulations mentioned above.
Online Forex brokers also need to pay an annual fee. The amount of the fee varies. The first part is fixed at KES 100,000 for non-dealing brokers and money managers or KES 250,000 for dealing brokers. The second part is calculated using the gross trading revenue for the year, including commissions and rebates from third-party related service providers, and is 3% for both dealing and non-dealing Forex brokers.
Checking CMA registration
If a Forex broker says on its website that it is licensed by the CMA, you should double check with the CMA itself to verify that the license exists, and is in good standing.
You can do this by looking in the directory of licensees on the CMA website.
There is a search box, but it isn't very useful. It only lets you look up categories, not individual entities. All the categories are listed below with buttons. So, you can just use your browser's search function to find the category you want, or spot it by sight. Even though the search feature isn't very good, you don't really need it since the categories are well-organized.
Forex-related categories include:
- Dealing Forex brokers
- Non-dealing Forex brokers
- Online foreign exchange money managers
If you click on one, it will take you to a page with a list of all licensees in that category, including their names, addresses, license numbers, and websites. You can then scroll to find the broker you are interested in, or use your browser's search function.
CMA client protections
The Capital Markets Authority protects customers by:
- Accepting complaints and reviewing reports
- Setting a leverage limit of 1:400
- Providing negative balance protections ("adoption of risk-management procedures to deal with stop losses, no negative accounts")
- Requiring segregated funds for client accounts
- Taking appropriate enforcement actions
- Issuing alerts to the public
- Maintaining an investor compensation fund
The CMA says that the investor compensation fund can grant compensation to investors who lose money due to an entity failing to meet their contractual obligations. This could happen due to fraud, the broker becoming insolvent, etc. Note, however, that the compensation fund is only available to clients of stock brokers at this time (not Forex brokers).
Powers at the CMA's disposal
The CMA is able to take a range of enforcement actions against an entity in violation of its rules. Some of these include:
- Investigations and audits
- Issuing warnings
- Financial penalties
- Restitution orders
- Suspension or revocation of a license
When a broker is not actually regulated by the CMA, the CMA cannot suspend or revoke its nonexistent license. But it can warn the public.
You can see an example of a warning from the CMA in the form of this notice titled Public Caution Against Investment Scams. It lists multiple entities that were serving clients in Kenya, but which had not obtained licensing before doing so. Among those entities was a Forex broker called Just Markets.
Reporting to the CMA
If you believe a Forex broker may be in violation of CMA rules, you can lodge a complaint.
The CMA requests that customers first contact the entity they have an issue with directly to see if a solution can be worked out. If you have already tried that, and are not satisfied, then you can proceed to filing a report.
In its complaints procedure, the CMA specifies that you should file the complaint with the Nairobi Securities Exchange Complaints Handling Unit. It states that you also have "the option of escalating the same to the Authority if the investor remains unsatisfied."
This statement is only with regards to stock brokers, however. If your complaint is about a Forex broker, you should not go through the Nairobi Securities Exchange. You should try the broker's compliance department first, and if that fails, complain directly to the CMA.
The CMA emphasizes that it is the apex regulator in Kenya, and thus has the right to receive any and all complaints that have anything to do with the market.
To make it easy to submit a complaint, the CMA provides an online complaints portal. If you prefer, you can call the Capital Markets Fraud Investigation Units by phone, or email them. Additional options include filling out a physical complaints form and mailing it in, or visiting the CMA's offices in person in Nairobi.
Conclusion
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Kenya is a legitimate regulatory agency for Forex brokers and other financial entities. It has meaningful enforcement powers. Moreover, the way the licensee directory is organized into categories is convenient and intuitive. Hopefully the compensation fund available to clients of stock brokers will also become available to clients of Forex brokers someday.
