Updated 12 November 2026
The official way to check an authorised securities dealer in Kenya is to search the Capital Markets Authority’s public licensees register, not 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 “AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS” category at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/7/. 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 AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS table on 12 November 2026, there were 8 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 8 unique names and 8 unique licence numbers. 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, investment bank or forex broker is not an authorised securities dealer in Kenya merely because it appears in a different official category.
On this page
In this guide
What a CMA authorised-securities-dealer licence is
The Capital Markets Authority is the official publisher of this register. The homepage, checked on 12 November 2026, lists authorised securities dealers as one category among the Authority’s licensees and market players, alongside stockbrokers, investment banks, fund managers 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.
This dealers table is not the stockbrokers list and it is not the investment-banks list. Some groups have more than one licensed entity. If you are being asked to deal in securities, the official question is whether the intermediary named on your documents is on this AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS table, or on one of the other CMA dealing categories, under the exact licensed name.
How to search for an authorised securities dealer in Kenya
To check an authorised securities dealer in Kenya, ask for the firm’s exact licensed name and its CMA licence number, then open the official AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS category rather than a general web search.
On licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/7/, 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 “AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS,” not an individual firm. Do not treat a blank homepage search for a company name as proof that the firm is unlicensed. Open the AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS 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 tipster 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 AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS 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 an authorised securities dealer in Kenya on that category page. This guide does not paste the names, addresses, licence numbers or websites.
There were 8 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 8 unique names and 8 unique licence numbers. The printed licence numbers on the page are not a continuous series; unused numbers are not a second official list. Unlike some other CMA categories counted the same day, this table had no repeated licence number and no blank licence-number cell.
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 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 stockbrokers and buying shares
Checking an authorised securities dealer 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 or an investment bank; those are separate CMA categories.
The licence register also does not restate fund-manager conduct rules. If the same group is also offering a collective investment scheme, 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 share-dealing steps; use the official AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS 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 AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS category, check that you used the licensed company name, not only a trading style or a parent-bank brand, and that you searched the dealers page rather than the homepage category search. Then check whether the firm is instead listed as a stockbroker, an investment bank, 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 8 official AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS rows counted on 12 November 2026, and what licence number is printed beside it? It does not, on its own, approve a trade or a share offer.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the official authorised-securities-dealer list?
On the Capital Markets Authority licensees register. The AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS category, checked on 12 November 2026, is at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/7/. The register homepage at licensees.cma.or.ke lists that category among the Authority’s other licensees and market players.
How many authorised securities dealers are on the register?
On a count of the official AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS table on 12 November 2026, there were 8 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 8 unique names and 8 unique licence numbers. That is the current official snapshot of an authorised securities dealer in Kenya on that page, not a later total.
Is an authorised securities dealer the same as a stockbroker?
Not on the official headings. An authorised securities dealer in Kenya appears in the AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS category. Stockbrokers and investment banks appear in separate categories on the same official register. Check the heading that matches the role printed on your documents.
What if the firm is not on the dealers page?
Search the exact licensed name and licence number on the AUTHORISED SECURITIES DEALERS 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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