The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has invited bids for the development of a new Retail Bond System designed to make it easier for ordinary Kenyans to invest in government securities using their mobile phones and online platforms.
In a notice, CBK said the system will allow members of the public to open and manage government securities accounts, buy bonds, make payments, receive interest, and sell or transfer their holdings—all from their mobile devices or through a website. The system will also include a Retail Depository component, and is expected to support up to 40 million transactions at once, signaling its large-scale ambitions. This move is part of wider reforms aimed at deepening the domestic bond market. Under Kenya’s now-collapsed $3.6 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country had committed to improving bond market infrastructure, boosting transparency, and increasing participation by a broader range of investors. In recent years, CBK has focused on streamlining how government bonds are issued, including more frequent reopening of existing bonds rather than issuing new ones. The introduction of the Dhow Central Securities Depository (DhowCSD) last year was one major milestone, aimed at easing access to government securities. However, many investors still find the process cumbersome. The proposed Retail Bond System marks a shift toward building more user-friendly infrastructure—especially for small investors. The system is expected to support a retail bond programme similar to M-Akiba, a mobile-based bond product that ran between 2017 and 2019. While M-Akiba showed potential, uptake was mixed due to challenges in distribution and user experience. The new system is expected to learn from those lessons. CBK has also indicated that the new system should be able to support more complex functions such as ‘Liability Management Operations,’ which could pave the way for bond switch auctions in the future. With Kenya’s high mobile money penetration, enabling payments through mobile wallets will be key to the success of this system. The goal, according to CBK, is to make investment in government securities as seamless and accessible as mobile banking. If successful, the system could significantly widen public participation in the bond market and improve domestic borrowing efficiency for the government.
Central Bank of Kenya to Launch Mobile-Friendly Retail Bond System
