NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 30 – The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is scheduled to hold its 55th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday and one of the agenda items is the election of Directors to the Board.
This follows the retirement by rotation of James Wangunyu as NSE Chairman and that of Bob Karina as the First Vice Chairman who are not seeking an additional term although they are eligible to do so.
Mr Wangunyu has served as a member of the NSE Board of Directors since 24th of May 2002, in various capacities culminating in his Chairmanship on June 27, 2008.
As a member of the Board, he has been instrumental in initiating the demutualisation process and he has been vocal on the need for the bourse to separate ownership from trading rights. This advocacy has resulted in the formation of a joint steering committee with the regulator, Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and government representatives.
It was under his watch as Chairman of the Trading and Surveillance Committee that the automation of the trading process, from matching of orders to the settlement resulted in the implementation of the Central Depository System (CDS) in 2004, the Automated Trading System (ATS) in 2006 and the Wide Area Network (WAN) in 2007.
This has resulted in the improvement of the infrastructural capacity of the bourse; enabling it to handle large volumes including Safaricom limited Initial Public Offer (IPO) which was the largest transaction in East and Central Africa in 2008.
The first ever Infrastructure bond was floated by the government in 2009, following the NSE partnership on a sensitisation workshop in conjunction with the Government and private sector on the opportunities that exist in the Fixed Income Securities Market Segment (FISMS) in accessing large sums of capital.
The Code of Ethics, which is binding upon all members of the Exchange and which acts as a measure to promote integrity and ethical conduct of business was launched in December 2008.
James Wangunyu leaves a legacy of improved relations with the regulator, having steered the bourse through a tumultuous period featuring post election violence, a severely depressed economy and the global financial crisis to leave a bourse that is the largest in the East and Central African region and the 5th largest in Africa.
On his part, Mr Karina was elected as a member of the NSE Board of Directors and has served for two periods, running from May 30, 2001 till May 13, 2003 and again from March 21, 2007 to date.
Until his retirement, Bob Karina has served as a director and since 27th June 2008 as the first Vice Chairman. He has been instrumental in ensuring the implementation of various exchange initiatives that have sustainably grown the business.
Bob Karina was the Chairman of the CDS/ATS Steering committee which was charged with ensuring the successful implementation of the end to end automation of the trading process.
He also oversaw the seamless interface of the Wide Area Network (WAN) with the individual member firms systems.
As the Chairman of the Business Development and Public Education committee, he has overseen the commencement of the Data vending services, which has widened the revenue base of the Exchange and has increased the availability of real time information in the market, easing investment decisions globally and locally.
It is under his Chairmanship that the East Africa Securities Exchanges Association (EASEA) training initiative for the Securities Industry Training Institute (SITI) commenced. This training aims to impart market intermediaries with the basic knowledge and requisite skills instrumental to a successful capital markets.
Mr Karina has also served in the Trading and Surveillance committee, Finance and Manpower committee and Listing committee during his tenure.
A statement from the exchange said, “The Nairobi Stock Exchange is indebted to the service of James Wangunyu and Bob Karina in facilitating the achievement of our vision, to be a leading securities exchange in the world.’
