Updated 12 November 2026
The official way to check a licensed fund manager in Kenya is to search the Capital Markets Authority’s public licensees register, not a product brochure, a social-media page or a WhatsApp investment group. The Authority’s register, headed “LICENSEES/ MARKET PLAYERS” and still served on 12 November 2026 at licensees.cma.or.ke, has a separate “FUND MANAGERS” category at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/8/. That category page, checked the same day, is a table with four official columns: Name, Address, License Number and Website.
On a count of that official FUND MANAGERS table on 12 November 2026, there were 54 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 54 unique names and 53 unique licence numbers. One licence number is printed against two similar company names. This guide does not paste the names. Search the exact name and licence number. A later official register would supersede that count. An approved money market fund, a REIT manager, an investment adviser or a forex broker is not a licensed fund manager in Kenya merely because they appear in a different CMA category, or in a bank or Sacco directory.
On this page
In this guide
What a CMA fund-manager licence is
The Capital Markets Authority is the official publisher of this register. The homepage, checked on 12 November 2026, lists fund managers as one category among the Authority’s licensees and market players, alongside approved institutions, investment banks, stockbrokers, investment advisers, authorised depositories, REIT managers, authorised real estate investment trusts, approved collective investment schemes and several other distinct headings. A firm can hold more than one type of CMA licence. Each category has to be checked on its own page.
The FUND MANAGERS page is not the list of approved funds. Approved collective investment schemes, including many unit trusts and money market funds, sit in a separate category on the same register. A scheme can be approved while you still need to confirm who is licensed to manage it. Conversely, appearance in the fund-managers table does not, by itself, tell you which funds that firm currently manages, or what those funds have returned.
How to search for a licensed fund manager in Kenya
To check a licensed fund manager in Kenya, ask for the firm’s exact licensed name and its CMA licence number, then open the official FUND MANAGERS category rather than a general web search.
On licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/8/, the page provides a search box whose official placeholder, checked on 12 November 2026, is “Search by name or license number.” A GET search on that page returns the matching official row, with the same four columns as the full table. Use that search when you already have a name or a number. If you are browsing the whole category, the 12 November 2026 table loaded as a single page; adding ?page=2 to the URL still returned the same table, so this guide does not invent a later page of names.
The register homepage search is narrower. Its official placeholder is “Search by category name.” A search there looks up the category headings, such as “FUND MANAGERS,” not an individual firm. Do not treat a blank homepage search for a company name as proof that the firm is unlicensed. Open the FUND MANAGERS category and search there.
Match the licensed name and the licence number to the documents you were given. The official table identifies a name and a number; it does not, by itself, prove that the person on a sales call works for that firm, or that a particular fund is still an approved scheme.
What the November 2026 count includes, and what it omits
The count below is from the official FUND MANAGERS table as served on 12 November 2026, not from a media republication and not from a Business Radar tool. It is the current official snapshot of a licensed fund manager in Kenya on that category page. This guide does not paste the names, addresses, licence numbers or websites.
There were 54 printed name-and-licence-number rows. Those rows covered 54 unique names and 53 unique licence numbers, because one licence number is printed against two similar company names. That typographical clash is disclosed, not resolved. The printed licence numbers on the page are not a continuous series; unused numbers are not a second official list.
The table does not print a licence-issue date, an expiry date or a status badge such as “active” or “suspended.” It also does not say whether the firm is approved to manage a particular money market fund. Those are separate questions, answered on the approved-schemes category or in the scheme’s own official documents, not by this headcount.
How this sits with a money market fund and the conduct rules
Checking a licensed fund manager in Kenya is one step, not the whole product check. If you are being asked to put money into a money market fund or another unit trust, also confirm that the scheme itself is on the Authority’s approved collective investment schemes list, using the published guide to checking a CMA-approved money market fund. A firm can be a licensed fund manager and still offer a product that is not an approved scheme.
The licence register also does not restate the conduct rules. A separate guide sets out what fund managers in Kenya are not allowed to do with your money. Use that article for the rules; use the official FUND MANAGERS table for the name and licence number.
What to do if the name is missing
If the name or licence number you were given does not appear in the FUND MANAGERS category, check that you used the licensed company name, not only a trading style or a fund name, and that you searched the fund-managers page rather than the homepage category search. Then check whether the firm is instead listed as an investment adviser, a REIT manager, a forex broker or another CMA category. Those are different licences.
If it still does not appear, treat the official table as the current public list and ask the firm to show its CMA licence details in writing. The register answers a narrow question: is this name among the 54 official FUND MANAGERS rows counted on 12 November 2026, and what licence number is printed beside it? It does not, on its own, approve a contribution, a yield or a withdrawal.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the official licensed-fund-manager list?
On the Capital Markets Authority licensees register. The FUND MANAGERS category, checked on 12 November 2026, is at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/8/. The register homepage at licensees.cma.or.ke lists that category among the Authority’s other licensees and market players.
How many licensed fund managers are on the register?
On a count of the official FUND MANAGERS table on 12 November 2026, there were 54 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 54 unique names and 53 unique licence numbers. That is the current official snapshot of a licensed fund manager in Kenya on that page, not a later total. One licence number is printed against two similar company names.
Is a fund-manager licence the same as an approved money market fund?
No. A licensed fund manager in Kenya appears in the FUND MANAGERS category. Approved collective investment schemes, including many money market funds, appear in a separate category on the same official register. Check both if you are being asked to invest in a fund.
What if the firm is not on the fund-managers page?
Search the exact licensed name and licence number on the FUND MANAGERS category page, not only the homepage category search. If it still does not appear, check whether it is listed under a different CMA heading, and ask the firm for its current official licence details. A later official register would supersede the 12 November 2026 count.
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