Legal Insights & Law Blog

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

In brief If you hold a stockbroking, fund management, investment banking or investment advisory licence in Kenya, or you run an app through which Kenyans invest, the rules you operate under changed this year and the compliance clock is already running. For more than two decades, anyone seeking a capital markets licence worked from regulations […]

In brief A Kenya stablecoin issuer licence sits at the top of the ten licence categories created by the Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026, and it is the most demanding by a wide margin. It is also the one attracting the most boardroom attention. Every remittance corridor into Nairobi, every payment service provider watching […]

The choice between a CBK and a CMA virtual asset licence is the first question Kenya’s new regime puts to any crypto business, and the most consequential one. In brief The first practical question for any virtual asset business facing Kenya’s new licensing regime is not what the requirements are. It is which door to […]

In brief Most of what has been written about Kenya’s new virtual asset regime explains the law, including our own earlier guide to crypto licensing under the VASP Act. This article does something different. It is a working plan for the businesses the law is about to catch: the exchanges, wallet providers, OTC desks, payment […]

Special funds in Kenya are the fastest-growing corner of the collective investment scheme market, now worth over KES 200 billion and rising. This article explains what a special fund actually is, how it differs from an alternative investment fund, and what you should check before you invest. Series note: This is the third and final […]

Collective investment schemes in Kenya let ordinary savers pool their money into professionally managed unit trusts, special funds and other vehicles regulated by the Capital Markets Authority. This article, the second in a three-part series, explains exactly who may lawfully operate a collective investment scheme in Kenya, how a unit trust is built, what kinds […]

In brief A crypto licence Kenya businesses once operated without now sits at the centre of the law. For years, the official position on cryptocurrency in Kenya was a warning. The Central Bank cautioned the public, banks closed accounts linked to crypto trading, and the businesses serving one of Africa’s most active crypto markets operated […]

Series note: This is Article 1 of a three-part series on the history of investment funds and collective investment schemes. Article 1 traces the global history of investment funds and their legal origins. Article 2 turns to the Kenyan context, the Capital Markets Act, the Capital Markets (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations, 2023, the types of […]

How Easy Is It to Set Up a Business in Kenya? What this article covers. How business registration in Kenya works in practice, what it costs, how long it takes, what a foreign investor is allowed to own, the taxes a new business will meet in 2026, and the compliance obligations most new companies discover […]