Kenya’s first locally domiciled ETF get securities exchange approval

Wall Street Africa (WSA), a Nairobi-based financial media and fintech startup, has received conditional approval from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) to list its banking exchange-traded fund (ETF) on its Main Investment Market Segment.  

The approval follows an earlier nod from Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) in July, bringing the ETF closer to becoming the country’s first locally domiciled ETF. The NSE said the fund must still meet some listing and operational requirements before it can begin trading.

The approval comes as Kenya’s banking stocks lead the country’s stock-market rally. The NSE closed the week ended September 4 at a KES 4.28 trillion ($33 billion) valuation, with banks dominating the activity. WSA is preparing to launch an investment product tied to one of the best-performing parts of Kenya’s stock market.

“The approval of the WSA Banking Index ETF marks a landmark moment for Kenya’s capital markets and a clear signal of our ambition to build a deeper, more innovative and globally competitive investment ecosystem,” Frank Mwiti, chief executive officer of NSE, said in a statement.

An ETF allows investors to buy a basket of assets through a single security. Instead of buying shares in each bank individually, investors can buy units of the WSA Banking ETF, while the fund holds the underlying bank stocks. Investors can buy and sell the ETF on the NSE like a regular listed security.

Wall Street Africa is launching the ETF with Tradiam Asset Managers as its fund manager. The product will track the NSE Banking Sector Index, which currently includes 12 banks, including Equity Group, KCB Group, Co-operative Bank, Absa Bank Kenya, NCBA Group and I&M Group.

“The NSE approval represents another important step toward bringing Kenya’s first locally domiciled ETF to market,” said Erick Asuma, co-founder and CEO of Wall Street Africa. “Our focus now shifts to working with Tradiam, the Exchange and other market participants to complete the remaining requirements and prepare the product for trading.” 

The company said it is finalising market-making arrangements to support liquidity, while also completing the onboarding and regulatory checks for its other service providers, including its custodian. It also needs to finalise the information memorandum that regulators will review before its release to investors.

“What the NSE and the regulator will finally look at is a few pending things on the legal side and partnership side,” Asuma told TechCabal in an interview on Wednesday. “Our goal is to make sure we onboard the different service providers for each role. We need to make sure we have market makers because the product is very liquid. A big chunk of that’s already done; we’re just at the tail end of finalising.”

WSA did not disclose the partners because they are still completing the regulatory processes required for onboarding. Asuma said the partners will announce their involvement separately once they receive the necessary clearances.

WSA has set an internal target of securing $50 million in seed commitments when the product goes to market. However, to meet regulatory requirements, Asuma said the company would need at least KES 1 billion ($7.7 million) to buy the underlying bank stocks and create the ETF units that investors can then trade on the NSE. 

According to him, WSA began work on the ETF and its approval process in November 2025, starting with research and product development. Between February and March 2026, it brought Tradiam Asset Managers into the project, then began engaging partners and service providers and navigating the regulatory process.

WSA is targeting Q4 2026 for the ETF to go live, although Asuma said it would launch earlier if the remaining requirements are completed sooner.

“We are ideally 90% done,” he said. “It’s just tying down the smaller bits, especially on the paperwork.”

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