Kenyan investors will soon be able to buy the country’s banking sector through a single listed investment after the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) approved the WSA Banking Index Exchange Traded Fund.
The fund, which is targeting up to Sh7 billion in committed capital at launch, will become the third ETF on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). It is expected to list in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Unlike the two existing ETFs, which give investors exposure to gold and international shares, the new fund will be the first locally domiciled ETF focused on companies listed in Kenya.
The product is being issued by Wallstreet Africa Group, the financial media and fintech company behind Kenyan Wall Street, in partnership with Tradiam Asset Managers, which will manage the fund.
CMA approved the listing under its 2015 policy guidance for exchange-traded funds, saying the product would expand investors’ choices and support the development of Kenya’s capital markets.
“The rollout of the innovative ETF product by the Wallstreet Africa Group is aligned to the Authority’s ambition of facilitating curation of innovative products in the capital markets space,” CMA chief executive Wyckliffe Shamiah said.
The regulator said the fund would respond to demand for new investment products while allowing investors to diversify their portfolios.
Fund to track 11 listed banks
The WSA Banking Index ETF will seek to replicate the performance of the NSE Banking Index by investing its assets in the shares of all the banks included in the benchmark.
The 11 constituents are Equity Group, KCB Group, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Absa Bank Kenya, NCBA Group, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, Stanbic Holdings, I&M Group, Diamond Trust Bank, HF Group and BK Group.
An investor will be able to buy and sell units in the fund through the NSE in much the same way as ordinary company shares.
Each unit will represent an interest in the portfolio of banking stocks. Its value will therefore rise or fall broadly in line with the combined market performance of the banks, subject to the fund’s expenses and any tracking difference.
This offers investors a way to spread their money across the banking industry instead of selecting one lender. It does not, however, eliminate investment risk because the fund remains concentrated in one sector.
CMA said the value of the units could be affected by stock-market volatility, interest-rate movements, changes in bank earnings, regulatory decisions and wider economic conditions.
The ETF and its underlying investments will be denominated in Kenya shillings, meaning investors will not face foreign-exchange exposure arising from the assets held by the fund. Market makers or authorised participants may support trading by creating and redeeming units and quoting buy and sell prices.
The CMA’s approval notice confirms the fund’s structure and constituents, but does not mention the reported Sh7 billion fundraising target or a specific listing date. Those details have been attributed to Wallstreet Africa founder Erick Asuma.
Banking rally provides favourable backdrop
The fund is preparing to enter the market following strong gains in banking shares.
The NSE Banking Index had reportedly risen 30.9 percent by the end of June and 62 percent from October 2025, indicating that gains had spread across several lenders rather than being confined to the biggest banks.
Among the strongest performers were I&M Group, Stanbic Holdings and Co-operative Bank. Large lenders also continued to account for a substantial share of market value, led by Equity Group, KCB Group and Co-operative Bank.
The wider equities market has strengthened alongside banking stocks, lifting total NSE market capitalisation towards Sh4 trillion in early August.
Although that rally may help generate interest in the ETF, past gains do not guarantee future returns. Investors buying after a sharp increase in banking valuations also face the risk of a market correction.
How Kenya’s first two ETFs work
The WSA fund will join two products that provide very different forms of exposure.
The Absa NewGold ETF, Kenya’s first ETF, was listed on the NSE on March 27, 2017 under the trading code GLD. It tracks the spot price of gold rather than investing in listed companies.
Each NewGold security represents approximately one-hundredth of a troy ounce of gold and is backed by physical bullion held by a custodian. Investors can therefore gain exposure to movements in the gold price without buying, transporting or storing gold themselves.
Its shilling price can be influenced by both international gold prices and exchange-rate movements. Absa’s disclosure document also identifies the product as Sharia-compliant. As of March 31, 2026, the Kenya-listed portion had a net asset value of about Sh2 billion, according to Absa’s fund disclosure.
The Satrix MSCI World Feeder ETF, the NSE’s second ETF, provides exposure to large and medium-sized companies across developed markets.
It is described as a “feeder” fund because it does not directly purchase all the shares in the MSCI World Index. Instead, it invests in the iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF, an underlying international fund that seeks to reproduce the index’s total return.
That structure gives Kenyan investors indirect exposure to hundreds of global companies through a unit bought in shillings on the NSE. The product is a secondary listing of a South African fund that has traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange since 2017. It joined the NSE in July 2025 at an initial reference price of Sh761 per unit, according to the NSE listing announcement.
Unlike the new banking ETF, the Satrix fund carries international market and currency exposure because its underlying investments are outside Kenya.
The three products will consequently offer distinct choices: NewGold for gold exposure, Satrix MSCI World for developed-market equities and WSA Banking Index ETF for a basket of locally listed banks.
