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Kenya: Press Releases: NSE Holds AGM, Intends to Complete Demutualisation |
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Friday, 30 July 2010 |
Nairobi, 29 July 2010 --- The members of the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) held their 56th Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Nairobi Serena Hotel on 28 July 2010. All members of the Nairobi Stock Exchange were represented at the AGM which was chaired by Mr. Eddy Njoroge.
Mr. Njoroge presented to the members a review of the performance of the NSE in 2009. He noted that notwithstanding the challenging macroeconomic environment in 2009, the NSE continued to fulfill its mandate of providing a robust capital access avenue for the both the public and private sector. Indeed, noted Mr. Njoroge, the NSE continued to focus on improving its trading platform, in order to better suit the needs of issuers, both private and public.
All government and corporate bonds listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange are now immobilised and trade through the automated trading system. This has improved the time it took to conclude transactions. Delivery versus Payment (DvP) is concluded in 3 days (t + 3), which is the globally accepted standard.
“Automation opened up the bond market, reduced operational risk and increased liquidity. It made it easier for issuers to tap into large pools of capital, as seen by the successful uptake of the infrastructure bonds (IFBs). The government issued KES38.624bn worth of IFBs while the first ever corporate IFB was issued for KES25bn,” said Mr. Njoroge.
The impact of automation continues to be felt. So far this year, bond turnover for the year to June 2010 stands at KES 274.5bn, compared to KES47.83bn over a similar period last year,” said Mr. Njoroge. The process of demutualisation had gained momentum. Mr. Njoroge noted that on 10 June 2010, while delivering his budget speech, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance made the following pronouncements regarding demutualization:
- The Capital Markets Act (CMA) Cap. 485A would be amended to facilitate demutualization;
- On passage of the 2010 Finance Bill by parliament, the amendments to The CMA Act would come into effect on 1 January 2011.
The Chairman reiterated the commitment of the exchange and its members towards seeing this process through. “As soon as the amendments to the CMA Act come into effect on 1 January 2011, we shall move with speed to conclude the process demutualisation,” said Mr. Njoroge. The members unanimously re-elected the following directors:
1. Mr. Lutaf Kassam (Institutional Director); 2. Mr. David Njoroge (Listed Company Director); 3. Mr. George Maina (Stock broker Director), and 4. Mr. Andre DeSimone (Stock broker Director)
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