Bourse returns to the Exchange Bar

Central Bank of Kenya Deputy Governor Dr Haron Sirma (second left), I&M Holdings Chairman Daniel Ndonye (right), Dyer and Blair Wealth Manager Sheema Shah (second right) and Equities dealer Solomon Omundo (left) at the Sarova Stanley on June 25, 2013. Photo/DIANA NGILA  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By GRIFFINS OMWENGA

In Summary

• NSE held business at the Stanley Hotel where it used to operate from 1954 to 1991

The Nairobi Securities Exchange on Tuesday made a nostalgic return to the Exchange Bar at the Stanley Hotel, where it last operated from more than two decades ago.

The securities exchange used the hotel facilities, from where it used to operate from 1954 to 1991 when it moved to Nation Centre, to host bell ringing as I&M Bank shares started trading.

Its currently in transition from Kimathi Street to it new house, the Exchange House in Westlands.

New offices

“We recently moved top our new offices in Westlands and as such we are still setting up the infrastructure that will allow for subsequent bell ringing ceremonies to be conducted at the bourse,” said NSE chairman Eddy Njoroge during the function.

Bell Ringing, a traditional to mark day’s trading activities are usually held at the trading floor of exchanges.

Share trading was beamed live on a monitor as investors witnessed shares of I&M holdings - which is now 100 per cent owned by city trust limited – trading immediately after a bell ringing ceremony for the share sale to begin.

For the moment, the Exchange Bar was worlds apart from its 19th century décor defined by its Victorian grandeur and was now harbouring stock market players, but this time not over tots of wine by traders as was originally the case when the stock market idea was exported to Kenya.

The “Exchange Bar” draws its name from being located at the original site of the NSE which it housed from 1954 to 1991 when it moved to rent the first floor of the Nation Centre on Kimathi Street.

Before 1954, it was called the “Long Bar”, and was famous for being the first to serve Kenya’s most popular, and locally produced beer, Tusker.

Wall of Fame

Today, the bar’s interior only serves to ignite memories of chief executives of some of the top companies that were first listed at the NSE through photos on the walls, and is called the Wall of Fame.

And indeed true to its original form and substance, it caters to a business clientele and stocks international newspapers, with the monitor providing a live transmission of stock market activity from the NSE and other bourses across the world.

In Kenya, dealing in shares and stocks started in the 1920s when the country was still a British colony.

However the market was not formal as there were no rules and regulations to govern stock broking activities. Trading took place on a 'gentleman’s agreement.’

First stocks dealer

In 1951, an Estate Agent by the name of Francis Drummond established the first professional stock broking firm.

He also approached the then Finance Minister of Kenya, Sir Ernest Vasey and impressed upon him the idea of setting up a stock exchange in East Africa.