- Business
- Nairobi Securities Exchange PLC operates as the principal securities exchange in Kenya, providing automated trading, clearing, settlement oversight, and listing facilities for a comprehensive suite of financial instruments across East Africa. Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the company operates across two core business segments: the Cash Equities and Interest Rate Market Segment and the Derivatives Market Segment. The company's core products and services comprise equity trading across the Main Investment Market Segment (MIMS), Alternative Investment Market Segment (AIMS), and Growth Enterprise Market Segment (GEMS); fixed-income securities, including Kenyan government treasury bonds, corporate bonds, and green and sustainability-linked bonds; derivative instruments traded on the NSE Derivatives Market (NEXT), featuring index futures and single stock futures; exchange-traded funds (ETFs); real estate investment trusts (REITs); over-the-counter transaction facilities through the Unquoted Securities Platform (USP); business incubation and growth advisory through the Ibuka Program; market data feeds and index calculation services, including the NSE All-Share Index (NASI), NSE 20-Share Index, NSE 10-Share Index, and the FTSE NSE Kenya Index Series; broker connectivity solutions; and executive investor education via the NSE Digital Academy. The exchange serves domestic, regional, and international institutional investors, retail market participants, corporate issuers, custodian banks, and licensed intermediary stockbrokers.
In recent strategic developments, Nairobi Securities Exchange PLC has implemented core modernization and digital transformation initiatives under its 2025–2029 Strategic Plan. In retail market access, the company collaborated with Safaricom to launch Ziidi Trader, an embedded investment solution enabling retail investors to trade listed equities directly through the M-PESA mobile platform. To modernize market architecture, the company entered into a multi-year technology agreement with InfoTech Group to deploy an integrated trading infrastructure featuring the Capizar Automated Trading System (ATS), Market Surveillance System (MSS), and modern clearing architecture. In digital asset and tokenization initiatives, the exchange partnered with DeFi Technologies, Valour Inc., and SovFi to develop the Kenya Digital Exchange (KDX) framework for tokenized real-world assets, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tether to advance digital asset education and market infrastructure development. Additionally, the exchange expanded its NEXT product suite by introducing single stock futures contracts on major constituent equities and hosted landmark initial public offerings, bolstering capital mobilization and liquidity across the Kenyan financial markets.