The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has unveiled a tender for its own retail bond system, a move that would bring a major disruption in Kenya’s financial market. This tender, with reference number CBK/007/2025-2026, was announced on July 24, 2025, with a closing date of August 13, 2025.
According to CBK, the aim of the system is to expand retail access to government securities and automate the process.
“The Retail Bond system will provide a platform for investors to open and maintain government securities accounts, purchase government securities, remit payments, receive interest/coupon payments and sell/rediscount their securities using their mobile phones and website,” wrote CBK in a document.
“The system will provide all services related to Retail bonds, registration of investors, creation of securities bidding, rediscount, payments processing, on-line access to inform, including enquire from investors via mobile phones.” document further revealed.
One the key requirements for the new system is the ability to accommodate the Retail Bond System, which entails the Central Securities Depository (CSD), tax system, core banking system, and banks. Also, the system must seamlessly support a minimum of 40 million transaction simultaneously.
The move has raised concerns among market players, including the NSE, brokers, custodians, and other intermediaries. There are fears that the CBK could be developing infrastructure that might run parallel to, or even bypass, the NSE’s existing role in the secondary bond market. Such a development could significantly impact the NSE’s bond turnover business, which currently accounts for a substantial portion of its revenue, as well as the earnings of other market participants.
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