Kenya’s top stock market regulator stepping down

CMA CEO Paul Muthaura                           CREDIT| Kenya industrialisation ministry website.

Paul Muthaura will step down as chief executive of Capital Markets Authority (CMA) at the end of the year, opting not to renew his contract for another term of four years, the regulator announced last Friday. Muthaura joined CMA in 2005. He was appointed acting CEO in 2012 and confirmed to that position in 2016. CMA is the regulator of Kenya’s stock market.

Under Muthaura, CMA has focused a lot on improving transparency in the Kenyan stock market as a way of boosting investor confidence in the market. The CMA-led efforts to improve investor confidence in the Kenyan stock market include pushing listed companies to be as transparent as possible in their financial reporting. The regulator’s view is that transparent financial reporting will boost investor confidence and in turn help attract more investors into Kenya’s stock market.

CMA is coordinating with other regulators across East Africa to enhance the quality of corporate financial reporting in the region. This coming November, CMA and other regional regulators will  fete East African companies with outstanding financial reporting practices at a ceremony in Nairobi.

CMA stamping out stock market manipulation
The CMA under Muthaura leadership has also stepped up crackdown on market manipulation practices in the Kenyan stock market. Early this month, the regulator slapped a company executive and stockbrokers with heavy fines and stringent restrictions after finding them guilty of trying to make unlawful profits by trading on confidential information.