Updated 12 November 2026
The official way to check a CMA intermediary platform in Kenya is to search the Capital Markets Authority’s public licensees register, not an app-store listing 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 “INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER” category at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/19/. 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 INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER table on 12 November 2026, there were 10 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 10 unique names and 10 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 CBK-licensed payment service provider, a mobile-money product or a CMA-licensed fund manager is not a CMA intermediary platform in Kenya merely because it appears in a different official category.
On this page
In this guide
What an intermediary service platform provider licence is
The Capital Markets Authority is the official publisher of this register. The homepage, checked on 12 November 2026, lists “INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER” as one category among the Authority’s licensees and market players, alongside fund managers, investment banks, stockbrokers and several other distinct headings. A firm can hold more than one type of licence. Each CMA category has to be checked on its own page.
This category is not the Central Bank of Kenya directory of authorised payment service providers, and it is not a general list of every savings or investment app. A payment brand or a mobile-money service can be familiar and still need a separate CMA check if it is offering a capital-markets intermediary platform. Use this official table for the ISPP licence, and the CBK payment-service-provider directory for a CBK payment licence.
How to search for a CMA intermediary platform in Kenya
To check a CMA intermediary platform in Kenya, ask for the firm’s exact licensed name and its CMA licence number, then open the official INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER category rather than a general web search.
On licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/19/, 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, not an individual firm. Do not treat a blank homepage search for a company or product name as proof that the firm is unlicensed. Open the INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER category and search there.
Match the licensed name and the licence number to the app, website or contract you were given. The official table identifies a name and a number; it does not, by itself, prove that a particular product inside an app is a capital-markets service, or that a person on a sales call works for that firm.
What the November 2026 count includes, and what it omits
The count below is from the official INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER 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 CMA intermediary platform in Kenya on that category page. This guide does not paste the names, addresses, licence numbers or websites.
There were 10 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 10 unique names and 10 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 list the products on the platform, the fees charged, or whether a mobile-money wallet on the same brand is a separate service. Those questions sit outside this headcount.
How this sits with mobile money and other licences
Checking a CMA intermediary platform in Kenya is one licence check, not the whole payments or investment file. If you are sending or receiving money on a mobile wallet, follow the published guides to receiving money from abroad on M-Pesa and to the tax on M-Pesa transactions. Those pages cover the wallet and the tax treatment. They do not tell you whether a firm is on the official CMA ISPP table.
Use those pages for the payment product. Use the official INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER table for the name and licence number of a CMA-licensed platform provider.
What to do if the name is missing
If the name or licence number you were given does not appear in the INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER category, check that you used the licensed company name, not only an app name or a parent-brand, and that you searched the ISPP page rather than the homepage category search. Then check whether the firm is instead listed as a fund manager, an investment adviser, a CBK payment service provider or another official 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 10 official INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER rows counted on 12 November 2026, and what licence number is printed beside it? It does not, on its own, approve a transfer, a yield or a subscription.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the official CMA intermediary-platform list?
On the Capital Markets Authority licensees register. The INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER category, checked on 12 November 2026, is at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/19/. The register homepage at licensees.cma.or.ke lists that category among the Authority’s other licensees and market players.
How many CMA intermediary platforms are on the register?
On a count of the official INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER table on 12 November 2026, there were 10 printed name-and-licence-number rows, covering 10 unique names and 10 unique licence numbers. That is the current official snapshot of a CMA intermediary platform in Kenya on that page, not a later total.
Is this the same as a CBK payment-service-provider licence?
No. A CMA intermediary platform in Kenya appears in the Authority’s INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER category. Payment service providers authorised by the Central Bank of Kenya appear on a different official directory. A group can have more than one licence; check the name and the licence you were actually shown.
What if the firm is not on the ISPP page?
Search the exact licensed name and licence number on the INTERMEDIARY SERVICE PLATFORM PROVIDER category page, not only the homepage category search. If it still does not appear, check whether it is listed under a different official heading, and ask the firm for its current official licence details. A later official register would supersede the 12 November 2026 count.
Prefer WhatsApp? Follow Business Radar on WhatsApp
We will email you a weekly money and business brief. We store your email (and your name, if you give one) for that purpose, under the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019. You can unsubscribe at any time. Privacy policy.
