Financial technology firms that develop applications aimed at deepening Kenya's capital market will have a chance to undergo a 12-month live testing period.
The Capital Markets Authority on Tuesday announced it has started accepting applications from the firms.
CMA chief executive Paul Muthaura said the testing period known as the regulatory sandbox aims at improving the regulator's grasp of emerging technologies and innovations.
“The opportunities created by a robust testing phase will ensure that subsequent regulatory prescription and guidance will be informed by the operational realities and insights gained from the test,” said Muthaura in a statement.
The board has approved policy guidelines to enable the regulator assess each application on an individual basis.
Sandbox participants will be required to comply with certain minimum regulatory requirements prescribed by law.
Applicants, whether foreign or local, will be considered for admission based on their documented plans to offer innovative products, solutions or services with the potential to deepen Kenya’s capital markets.
The Sandbox is part of the CMA’s 10-year master plan seeking to promote innovations as a way of growing participants and volumes of trade in the capital markets.
Seventy innovators are currently testing different financial technology innovations with the CMA.
CMA says the innovators under the regulatory sandbox programme are currently at different implementation stages.
