CMA Board Chairman Kung’u Gatabaki said Muthaura will oversee the Authority in an acting capacity until a substantive CEO is recruited/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 27- Paul Muthaura has been appointed as the acting Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) with effect from July 1, 2012.
Muthaura, who has been the Director of Regulatory Policy and Strategy, will be assuming this transitional role from Stella Kilonzo, who is stepping down after her four-year term on June 30.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the CMA Board Chairman Kung’u Gatabaki said Muthaura will oversee the Authority in an acting capacity until a substantive CEO is recruited.
“Muthaura will continue to spearhead several ongoing initiatives at the Authority as the Board finalises the recruitment of the substantive Chief Executive, which is ongoing and is expected to be completed in the shortest time possible,” he said.
Already the CMA has received applications from over 20 candidates for the position of CEO.
Meanwhile, in efforts to scale up its oversight role, the Authority has launched an advanced market surveillance system that will now ensure real time supervision.
Outgoing CEO Stella Kilonzo said the new system will enable the regulator to identify and curb any trading irregularities in good time.
“This system is able to undertake multiple surveillance analyses simultaneously and give you alerts,” she said.
The information gathered will be saved to assist in investigations and to gather further evidence for prosecution in cases of breach of Capital Markets Acts and Regulations.
The system that is meant to increase transparency in trading and reduce the level of manipulation in the market, is equipped with pre-configured rules to determine common trading patterns that constitute market abuse such as front running and insider trading.
“The system also allows market replay. I can replay the market at midnight to see the trading at 10 in the morning. It also gives a transaction history,” she explained.
The Authority will spend Sh48 million towards implementation of the surveillance system that is expected to be fully functional by October 2012.
