Yesterday the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) officially launched a new operational system known as the Broker Back Office System (BBO) that will allow the trading of shares using mobile phones among other benefits.

Apart from mobile phone share trading, the system will also allow for the trading of shares over the internet. However, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is yet to give full approval for the system to be rolled out.

Sources at the NSE tell Pesatalk that this approval should come in late October and that stockbrokers have already conducted tests and will offer the new trading avenues as soon as approval is given.

Read: Internet Trading of Kenyan Shares to Fully Implement from December

Through automation, the BBO system connects the Kenyan Stock Market’s back office, trading platform and settlement platform (CDS system) leading to less manual intervention and better efficiency in trading shares and bonds.

Here are the benefits the new system will offer once approval is given next month:

• The ability for investors to trade shares over the internet or mobile phone – Stock brokers will offer these services.

• Share trading will be more easily available in all the 47 Kenyan counties as stock brokers will be able to extend their services there via the internet trading platform.

• Kenyans in the diaspora will be able to trade in the Kenyan stock market over the internet.

• The risk of trading in securities (shares and bonds) will be reduced.

So far, only CFC Stanbic Financial Services and Dyer & Blair Investment Bank currently offer the ability to trade shares over the internet having received prior CMA approval.  The BBO system has been launched in collaboration with the Kenya Association of Stockbrokers & Investment Banks (KASIB), Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC).