NSE Breaks New Ground With Sponsored Access

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has rolled out a faster, more connected way for investors to trade on the Exchange with the successful rollout of Sponsored Access. The first trades under this model were executed through Absa Securities Kenya on behalf of Absa Bank South Africa.

If you strip it down, Sponsored Access is when a licensed broker (in this case Absa Securities) opens a secure, supervised pipeline straight into the Exchange’s trading engine, the core system that actually matches buy and sell orders. Instead of routing orders through multiple layers of brokerage systems, investors send them directly into the engine through the broker’s connection. It’s faster, cleaner, and ideal for firms that do trade on scale or across borders.

This is revolutionary; a first for East Africa. It allows regional and global investors looking to plug into Kenya’s capital markets an in.

The NSE says the move is an important part of its plan to revitalise activity and attract more sophisticated investors. As Frank Mwiti, the NSE CEO puts it, “This is not only a win for the NSE, but for the broader region. The successful deployment of Sponsored Access by Absa is a powerful signal of investor confidence and technological readiness. It speaks directly to our strategic agenda to revitalise the market and leverage technology to attract a broader range of participants, including regional and global investors.”

Absa reiterates this. Merlin Rajah, Head of Electronic Sales at Absa CIB, said the milestone reflects the bank’s commitment to boosting market connectivity across the continent. “Through our Sponsored Access arrangement, we are helping to create more efficient and transparent pathways for investors to participate in African capital markets. It is a tangible example of how regional collaboration and technology can deepen liquidity and unlock new opportunities for growth,” said Merlin Rajah, Head of Electronic Sales at Absa CIB

For technology and operations leaders in financial services, this shows just how quickly Africa’s trading systems are shifting. Fast connections, automated safety checks, and the ability to link across borders aren’t the stuff of future goals anymore. They’re already happening in real markets.

Across Africa, only a few stock exchanges offer anything close to what the NSE is now doing with Sponsored Access. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange has allowed direct electronic access for years, mainly for large institutions trading at high speed.

Several other markets, including Nigeria, Mauritius, Egypt, Morocco, and the West African regional exchange, have begun building similar cross-border links through the African Exchanges Linkage Project. AELP lets brokers in one country route orders to another market.

But fully opening up a secure, supervised fast lane into the trading engine, the way the NSE has now done, is still new for most African exchanges, making this move by the NSE stand out. It indicates that the market is joining the small group of African exchanges ready for more advanced, tech-driven trading.