The Capital Markets Authority has inked a cooperation agreement with the Australian Securities Investment Commission in a bid to promote innovation in the closely monitored financial services. The deal, signed this week on the sidelines of International Organisation of Securities Commissions’ board meeting in Hong Kong, allows the two to share information on emerging market trends and regulatory issues arising from the rapidly rising innovations.
“We are committed to facilitating innovation in financial services, leveraging on Kenya’s positioning in the region as an innovation centre,” CMA chief executive Paul Muthaura said in a statement on Friday. “This, however, calls for us to assess lessons learned and to compare strategies to balance innovation and regulation with our peer regulators.” The Australian counterpart, ASIC, launched an Innovation Hub in 2015 that has seen an up surge in requests by financial technology start-ups seeking regulatory help. The regulator wants to establish a Regulatory Sandbox to allow start-ups to test their concepts without a licence.
