banking and finance law in kenya — navigating the regulatory landscape with confidence

Obtaining and maintaining a Central Bank of Kenya licence is a demanding, multi-stage process with little room for error. Whether you are applying for a bank licence, an authorisation as a payment service provider under the National Payment System Act, a Digital Credit Provider registration, or a microfinance licence, the quality of your application and the strength of your regulatory engagement will shape both the outcome and the timeline.

We provide comprehensive support across the entire licensing journey. That means pre-application regulatory analysis and gap assessment, corporate structuring to meet CBK capital and governance requirements, preparation and submission of complete licensing applications, ongoing engagement with the CBK during the review process, and post-licence compliance advisory to maintain your regulatory standing once you are operational.

We also advise on regulatory capital requirements, reporting obligations, and the conduct of business requirements applicable to all CBK-regulated entities. Licensing is the beginning of the regulatory relationship, not the end of it.

We advise on the full range of lending transactions in the Kenyan market, from straightforward term facilities to complex syndicated lending and structured finance transactions.

Our work in this area covers drafting and negotiating loan agreements, security documentation including charges over land, debentures, pledges, and guarantees, facility agreements for development finance institutions, inter-creditor arrangements in multi-lender transactions, and loan restructuring and recovery advisory. We understand the practical demands of large and time-sensitive financial transactions and we work to the tight commercial timelines that lenders and borrowers operate under.

When a transaction needs to close, we make sure the legal work is not the reason it does not.

For issuers and advisers operating in Kenya’s capital markets, we provide legal support across the full range of equity and debt transactions. That includes Initial Public Offerings on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, rights issues and secondary offerings, corporate bond and commercial paper issuance, private placements, and continuous disclosure obligations for listed companies.

We work closely with the Capital Markets Authority on transaction approvals and ongoing regulatory compliance, and we understand the documentation standards, timelines, and stakeholder dynamics that determine whether a capital markets transaction closes smoothly or stalls.

Kenya’s financial regulatory environment is in a period of sustained change. New regulations are being introduced across banking, fintech, digital credit, and capital markets at a pace that makes it genuinely difficult for compliance teams to stay current without dedicated legal support.

We provide ongoing compliance advisory to financial institutions and fintech businesses, helping them stay ahead of regulatory change rather than responding to it after the fact. That means monitoring and briefing on regulatory developments from the CBK, CMA, Insurance Regulatory Authority, and SASRA, advising on compliance programme design, and representing financial institutions in regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings when they arise.

In a sector where a compliance failure can cost a licence, staying current is not optional. We make it manageable.