NAIROBI, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Kenya approved the commencement of secondary bond trading outside the Nairobi Securities Exchange Thursday.
The over-the-counter trading will be facilitated by the East Africa Bond Exchange, a public firm supported by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), a lobby for the banking industry.
The initiation of this trading sets the stage for competition with the Nairobi Securities Exchange for the approximately 734 billion shillings (about 4.56 billion U.S. dollars) annual bond turnover.
Habil Olaka, the chief executive officer of KBA, said that the exchange would facilitate the trading of fixed-income assets such as repurchase agreements and treasury securities, fostering East Africa's financial integration.
"This is the most significant capital markets infrastructure in Kenya and the wider East region in decades. It promises to uplift the regional fixed income markets to world-class status and would be instrumental in mobilizing long-term currency financing for East Africa economies," said Evans Osano, director of capital markets at FSD Africa, a specialist development agency. ■