Updated 12 November 2026
The official way to check a licensed investment bank in Kenya is to search the Capital Markets Authority’s public licensees register, not a bank branch poster, a trading-app screenshot or a social-media page. The Authority’s register, headed “LICENSEES/ MARKET PLAYERS” and still served on 12 November 2026 at licensees.cma.or.ke, has a separate “INVESTMENT BANKS” category at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/3/. 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 INVESTMENT BANKS table on 12 November 2026, there were 23 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 23 unique names and 22 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. A CMA-licensed stockbroker, fund manager or forex broker, or a CBK-licensed commercial bank, is not a licensed investment bank in Kenya merely because it appears in a different official category.
On this page
In this guide
What a CMA investment-bank licence is
The Capital Markets Authority is the official publisher of this register. The homepage, checked on 12 November 2026, lists investment banks as one category among the Authority’s licensees and market players, alongside approved institutions, stockbrokers, fund managers, investment advisers, authorised depositories 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 INVESTMENT BANKS page is not the Central Bank of Kenya directory of licensed commercial banks, and it is not the CMA stockbrokers list. A commercial bank and an investment bank can share a group name and still be different legal entities with different licences. If you are opening a current account, check the CBK commercial-bank directory. If you are being asked to buy or sell listed shares through a broker, also check the official stockbrokers category, not only this investment-banks table.
How to search for a licensed investment bank in Kenya
To check a licensed investment bank in Kenya, ask for the firm’s exact licensed name and its CMA licence number, then open the official INVESTMENT BANKS category rather than a general web search.
On licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/3/, 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, 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 “INVESTMENT BANKS,” not an individual firm. Do not treat a blank homepage search for a company name as proof that the firm is unlicensed. Open the INVESTMENT BANKS 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 a mobile app, a WhatsApp broker or a person at a seminar is acting for that firm.
What the November 2026 count includes, and what it omits
The count below is from the official INVESTMENT BANKS 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 investment bank in Kenya on that category page. This guide does not paste the names, addresses, licence numbers or websites.
There were 23 printed name-and-licence-number rows. Those rows covered 23 unique names and 22 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 tell you which listed securities the firm may deal in, what commissions it charges, or whether a particular trading account is genuine. Those questions sit outside this headcount.
How this sits with buying shares on the NSE
Checking a licensed investment bank in Kenya is one step in a securities transaction, not the whole account-opening file. If your aim is to buy or sell shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, follow the published steps in the guide to buying shares on the NSE, including the CDS account and the official intermediary you will actually use. Some investors deal through a stockbroker rather than an investment bank; those are separate CMA categories.
The licence register also does not restate fund-manager conduct rules. If the firm is also offering a collective investment scheme, check the official fund-managers and approved-schemes categories, and read the published guide to what fund managers in Kenya are not allowed to do with your money. Use those pages for the product and the rules; use the official INVESTMENT BANKS 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 INVESTMENT BANKS category, check that you used the licensed company name, not only a trading style or a parent-bank brand, and that you searched the investment-banks page rather than the homepage category search. Then check whether the firm is instead listed as a stockbroker, a fund manager, an investment adviser 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 23 official INVESTMENT BANKS rows counted on 12 November 2026, and what licence number is printed beside it? It does not, on its own, approve a trade, a yield or a share offer.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the official licensed-investment-bank list?
On the Capital Markets Authority licensees register. The INVESTMENT BANKS category, checked on 12 November 2026, is at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/3/. The register homepage at licensees.cma.or.ke lists that category among the Authority’s other licensees and market players.
How many licensed investment banks are on the register?
On a count of the official INVESTMENT BANKS table on 12 November 2026, there were 23 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 23 unique names and 22 unique licence numbers. That is the current official snapshot of a licensed investment bank in Kenya on that page, not a later total. One licence number is printed against two similar company names.
Is an investment-bank licence the same as a commercial-bank licence?
No. A licensed investment bank in Kenya appears in the CMA INVESTMENT BANKS category. Commercial banks are licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya and appear on a different official directory. A group can have both kinds of entity; check the name you are actually contracting with.
What if the firm is not on the investment-banks page?
Search the exact licensed name and licence number on the INVESTMENT BANKS category page, not only the homepage category search. If it still does not appear, check whether it is listed under a different CMA heading, such as stockbrokers, 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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