Does Your Investment App Need a CMA Licence? Kenya’s Intermediary Service Platform Licence Explained

By Peter Maina, Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. Market Notes series. Law stated as at 4 September 2026.

In brief

• Kenya licenses the apps and digital platforms through which investors buy money market funds, unit trusts and other capital markets products. The intermediary service platform provider licence was created by the Collective Investment Schemes Regulations, 2023 and widened to every capital markets product by the Capital Markets (Licensing Requirements) (General) Regulations, 2025.
• If your platform aggregates, markets or distributes those products and you are not yourself a licensed institution, you need this licence. The Capital Markets Authority has fixed the transition deadline under the 2025 Regulations at 13 February 2027, but a platform distributing unit trusts has needed a licence since the 2023 Regulations took effect.
• It is the most accessible licence the Authority offers. The fees are KES 10,000 to apply, KES 50,000 on licensing and KES 50,000 a year, there is no fixed minimum capital, and reporting is quarterly. The application is won or lost on the written agreement with your licensed partner and the quality of your platform documentation.

If you have built an app, a wallet or a savings product that lets Kenyans put money into a money market fund or a unit trust, and your company is not itself a licensed fund manager, this guide is for you. Something quietly transformed Kenyan investing over the last few years. The money market fund moved from a product sold in banking halls to a product bought on a phone, and a layer of fintech platforms grew up between the licensed fund managers and the public. Apps aggregate several funds in one place, wallets carry an invest button, and platforms market collective investment schemes to first time savers. The law has caught up with that layer in two steps, first through the Collective Investment Schemes Regulations, 2023 and then through Kenya’s new capital markets licensing rules of 2025, and every operator in the space now has a licence to hold and a deadline to meet.

Our firm has taken one of the early intermediary service platform applications through the Capital Markets Authority, with further applications in progress, so this guide reflects both the gazetted text and how the process runs in practice.

Where the licence comes from

The category first appeared in Part V of the Collective Investment Schemes Regulations, 2023. Regulation 76 provides that a person shall not operate an intermediary service platform without a licence from the Authority, and the Regulations define such a platform as any electronic application, or otherwise, which facilitates the marketing and distribution of approved collective investment schemes, other than one deployed by an existing licensed institution to improve its own efficiency. The provider is the person who operates the platform and acts as intermediary between the fund manager and the investors. The Authority began issuing licences under this regime and announced its first platform providers, including two mobile money operators, in December 2025, with further licences following in 2026.

The Capital Markets (Licensing Requirements) (General) Regulations, 2025 then placed the category in the general licensing framework and widened it. An intermediary service platform is now defined as a digital application, or otherwise, which facilitates the aggregation, marketing and distribution of capital markets products and services, not only collective investment schemes. Regulation 34 requires the operator to hold a licence, and the application form, fees and transition rules are those of the general regime.

Two carve outs shape the perimeter under both sets of rules. A platform deployed by an existing licensed institution to improve its own efficiency is outside the definition, so a fund manager’s own app needs no separate licence, though under regulation 76(2) of the 2023 Regulations a licensee using a platform for any other purpose must seek the Authority’s approval. And crowdfunding platforms are expressly excluded from the 2025 definition, because they answer to the Capital Markets (Investment-Based Crowdfunding) Regulations, 2022.

The test, in plain terms, is this. If your technology sits between licensed product manufacturers and the investing public, presents or promotes their products, and onboards customers into them, you are an intermediary service platform provider. It makes no difference whether you describe yourself as a technology company. The activity, not the label, decides.

The partnership at the heart of the licence

The regime rests on a simple architecture. The platform distributes, and a licensed market intermediary, in almost every case a fund manager, stands behind the product. The two are bound together by a written agreement, and both sets of Regulations make that agreement a mandatory part of the application. Regulation 34(2)(b) of the 2025 Regulations requires an agreement with a licensed market intermediary, and regulation 77(1)(b) of the 2023 Regulations requires one with a licensed fund manager. Each must set out, at minimum, the roles and responsibilities of the parties including their rights and duties, the extent of each party’s liabilities, dispute resolution mechanisms, complaints handling procedures, and investor protection mechanisms.

In practice this document is the centre of gravity of the whole application. It answers the question the regulator cares most about, which is who is responsible when something goes wrong for an investor who came through your app, and what happens next. A thin distribution agreement recycled from a commercial template will slow an application down. A carefully drafted one, allocating liability honestly and building real complaint and protection mechanics, carries the application. Negotiate it early, because your licensed partner’s own compliance function will have views, and the Authority reads it closely. A platform which intends to distribute schemes from more than one fund manager should also note regulation 76(3) of the 2023 Regulations, which requires the Authority’s approval before a licensed provider markets and distributes schemes from multiple managers.

What the application file contains

Beyond the partner agreement, regulation 34(2) requires a certificate of incorporation, a business plan detailing the nature of the platform and the business model, evidence of adequate capital, office and human resources, and an organisational chart with directors, shareholders and key personnel who meet the fit and proper standard in section 24A of the Capital Markets Act.

The platform itself must then be documented in detail, covering system capacity and security measures, user terms and conditions, and evidence of functionality. Expect to demonstrate a working platform, not a concept. Around it sits the policy suite. A business continuity and disaster recovery plan, record keeping procedures with an audit trail for daily operations, a risk management framework with fraud detection and prevention measures, a complaints handling procedure, a data protection policy, and an anti money laundering and counter terrorism financing policy. The 2023 Regulations add cyber security policies and procedures and a risk matrix with mitigation measures. The Authority keeps a residual power to ask for anything further.

None of this is exotic, but the standard is real. The data protection policy must reflect the Data Protection Act, 2019 and your actual data flows, and the fraud framework must engage with the risks of your specific model. Generic policies downloaded the week before filing are visible from across the room.

What it costs, and what it does not

This is the lightest touch licence in the Kenyan capital markets. The application fee is KES 10,000, the licensing fee KES 50,000, and the annual regulatory fee KES 50,000, figures which appear in both the Sixth Schedule of the 2025 Regulations and the Seventh Schedule of the 2023 Regulations. The annual fee is payable in full for the year of issue, so a new licensee should budget KES 110,000 for the first year. Unlike a stockbroker or a fund manager, an intermediary service platform provider has no prescribed minimum paid up capital. The test is adequacy, and the Authority’s Circular No. 06/2026 of 28 August 2026 defines it. Adequate capital means an operating capital requirement equal to three months of operating expenses, computed as an average of the quarterly operating expenses in the latest audited financial statements.

The ongoing burden is equally proportionate. Where brokers and fund managers file monthly capital adequacy returns, the platform provider submits quarterly reports on such information as the Authority advises. A provider wishing to exit must give three months’ notice, stating its reasons and setting out the procedure and timelines for transitioning its users, a rule designed to stop an app switching off with investors’ journeys half complete. The 2025 Regulations direct that notice to the licensed partner and the 2023 Regulations direct it to the fund manager and the Authority, so give it to all of them.

The process follows the general licensing track. A substantially complete application may earn an approval in principle under regulation 49, valid for six months, during which the applicant finishes building operations and recruiting. The licence issues on satisfaction of all conditions. Budget realistic time for preparing the file, since assembling the partner agreement, the platform evidence and the policy suite is where the months go.

The rules a licensed platform lives under

A platform distributing collective investment schemes carries conduct obligations from the 2023 Regulations which no fintech should discover after launch. Regulation 78 requires disclosure to users of the platform’s features, the nature of its partnership with the fund manager, an accurate description of its services, all fees including transaction charges, the data protection and privacy policy, risk disclaimers, alternative methods of transacting, withdrawal procedures, the processing of online applications and the suspension and cancellation of transactions, account opening procedures and the redemption and conversion of units. Regulation 82 requires the Authority’s approval of any advertisement or promotional material at least forty eight hours before publication. Regulation 83 prohibits the provider from holding clients’ funds, from offering investment advice in any form, from sharing client data with non affiliated third parties, and from any activity outside the licence category. A platform whose commercial model depends on holding a float, or on telling customers which fund to pick, needs to redesign the model or seek a different licence.

The deadline, and the risk of ignoring it

Regulation 58(2) of the 2025 Regulations gives anyone already operating an intermediary service platform one year from the Regulations coming into effect to apply. The Regulations appear in the Gazette Supplement of 11 December 2025, but the Capital Markets Authority has stated in Circular No. 06/2026 that they commenced on 13 February 2026, which takes the application window to 13 February 2027. Alongside this sits regulation 55, which prohibits the marketing of securities to the Kenyan public by unlicensed persons altogether.

That grace period should not be misread. A platform distributing unit trusts or money market funds has needed a licence since the 2023 Regulations took effect, and the 2025 transition window does not cure a breach of the earlier rules. For an operating platform, the calculus is simple. An application filed now keeps you in business through the determination. A platform still distributing in 2027 with no application on file is marketing regulated products without a licence, in a market where the regulator has a category built precisely for it, and where your licensed partners will come under their own pressure to work only with licensed distributors. Expect fund managers to ask their platform partners for evidence of licensing well before the deadline.

What happens next

The first cohort of platform providers is now licensed, and the Authority’s revised checklists on its licensing page show how it applies the framework. Guidance on the interaction between the 2023 and 2025 regimes is likely as applications accumulate, and the boundary with the crowdfunding rules and with the new virtual asset framework will matter for platforms whose products span them. I will analyse each development as it lands.

Frequently asked questions

What is an intermediary service platform provider in Kenya?

A person operating a digital platform which aggregates, markets or distributes capital markets products, such as an app through which the public buys money market funds. The category was created by the Collective Investment Schemes Regulations, 2023, widened by the Capital Markets (Licensing Requirements) (General) Regulations, 2025, and is licensed by the Capital Markets Authority.

My company is a technology provider, not a financial institution. Do I still need the licence?

Yes, if your platform performs the distribution activity. The exemption covers only platforms deployed by institutions which are themselves licensed, for their own efficiency. An independent fintech distributing licensed products needs its own intermediary service platform provider licence.

What does the ISPP licence cost in Kenya?

KES 10,000 on application, KES 50,000 on licensing and KES 50,000 annually. There is no fixed minimum capital. The Capital Markets Authority requires adequate capital, which it defines as three months of operating expenses based on the latest audited accounts.

What is the deadline to apply for the intermediary service platform licence?

Platforms already operating must apply within one year of the 2025 Regulations coming into effect, which the Capital Markets Authority has fixed at 13 February 2027. Platforms distributing unit trusts have needed a licence since the Collective Investment Schemes Regulations, 2023 took effect. New entrants need the licence before launching.

What is the hardest part of the ISPP application?

The written agreement with your licensed fund manager or other market intermediary. It must allocate roles, liabilities, dispute resolution, complaints handling and investor protection between you and your partner, and the regulator reads it more closely than any other document in the file.

Can an intermediary service platform hold client money or recommend funds?

No. Regulation 83 of the Collective Investment Schemes Regulations, 2023 prohibits a licensed provider from holding clients’ funds, offering investment advice in any form, or sharing client data with non affiliated third parties. Client money flows to the fund manager’s custodian, and a platform which wants to recommend specific funds must restructure so that the advice comes from a separately licensed investment adviser.

Does the licence cover crypto or crowdfunding products?

No. Crowdfunding platforms are expressly excluded and answer to the Capital Markets (Investment-Based Crowdfunding) Regulations, 2022. Platforms dealing in virtual assets fall under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 and its own licensing regime.

Peter Maina is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and the Managing Partner of Peter Maina & Company Advocates in Nairobi, where he leads the firm’s capital markets practice and its Regulatory Compliance and Fintech practice, including intermediary service platform licensing before the Capital Markets Authority. This article states the law as at 4 September 2026. It is general information, not legal advice. For advice on your platform, contact the firm.