EFG Hermes Kenya, the leading brokerage firm in Kenya, has launched an all-new digital onboarding process for its online trading platform, EFG Hermes One Kenya App. The streamlined digital onboarding process is integral to its strategy to promote financial inclusion in Kenya and the frontier markets in which it operates.
Muathi Kilonzo, Head of Equities, Brokerage at EFG Hermes Kenya, said that the digital onboarding on the EFG Hermes One app “falls in line with our strategy to support Kenya’s commitment to digital transformation and broadens domestic and diaspora retail investor participation in the capital markets, therefore boosting market activity.”
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With only 1.5 million registered retail investors in a population of over 55 million, the Kenyan market has traditionally had high barriers to entry, including a high cost of trading and the need for end-to-end automation. According to the Digital 2023 Kenya Report, at the start of 2023, Kenya had 17.86 million internet users, 10.55 million social media users, and 63.94 million active cellular mobile connections.
New market access solutions must leverage internet connectivity, smartphone, and mobile money to enable domestic and diaspora retail investors to efficiently and conveniently access value-accretive opportunities on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Kilonzo added, “Retail investors can already transfer funds from MPesa and use their Safaricom Bonga points to buy shares on the EFG Hermes One Kenya App, a first in the frontier markets we operate. We will use the response here to iterate, improve, and roll out in all our frontier markets.”
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