The Nairobi Securities Exchange Limited (NSE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) that will link Kenya’s market to Chinese investors and vice versa.
SZSE is one of two stock exchanges operating independently in the People’s Republic of China, the other being the larger Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The two bourses launched a joint investor forum that is known as the China-Kenya Capital Market Service Initiative that will see Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya attract more investors. The signed MoU is in line with NSE’s vision to be the leading securities exchange in Africa with a global reach.
According to Geoffrey Odundo, the NSE chief executive, the collaboration with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange is deliberate and strategic.
“It is geared at achieving a number of goals including; encouraging seamless cross-border access between our capital markets to ultimately drive deeper capital markets; create larger liquidity pools and greater competitiveness for our investors; enhance capacity and promote diversity of investment products to meet the needs of a wide range of investors and issuers,” he said.
It is geared at encouraging seamless cross-border access between the capital markets and creat larger liquidity pools
The move, according to Wenhai XIE, deputy director-general, Technology Management Committee of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, is a sign of more partnerships to come.
“There will be great potential for future cooperation. My visit to Kenya this time also shows our aspiration to deepen cooperation,” he said.
The two also agreed that China and Kenya have great potential for economic cooperation, which is witnessing rapid growth in both countries. In addition, they said that capital market services should facilitate capital formation for companies at different stages of development. This is because capital is an important factor in boosting the development of the real economy.
The securities exchanges have also launched the Ibuka and V-Next Connect, a joint initiative that
aims at promoting cross-border growth of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya and Shenzhen.
