Regulator picks veteran to lead rogue analysts probe team

Money Markets

Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (Icifa) chairman George Wakah (left) with secretary Jonah Aiyabei at a stakeholders meeting in a Nairobi hotel on May 26, 2016. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA  

By DAVID HERBLING, hdavid@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Mr Wachira, a seasoned stockbroker, will chair the Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (Icifa) disciplinary committee – the body expected to punish those involved in professional misconduct.
• The disciplinary team is expected to rein in rogue financial analysts and eliminate quacks by punishing those found to be practising without a licence or engaging in manipulative trading and other unethical practices.
• The team will investigate the conduct of individual stockbrokers and advisers at Faida Investment Bank, Standard Investment Bank, SBG Securities, Dyer and Blair, NIC Capital, Kingdom Securities and Sterling Capital fingered by the CMA for allegedly breaching market rules.

The regulator of financial and investment analysts has picked long-serving Suntra Investment Bank chairman Nguru Wachira to head its key disciplinary team.

Mr Wachira, a seasoned stockbroker, will chair the Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (Icifa) disciplinary committee – the body expected to punish those involved in professional misconduct.

The disciplinary team is expected to rein in rogue financial analysts and eliminate quacks by punishing those found to be practising without a licence or engaging in manipulative trading and other unethical practices.

“We went for someone who is very experienced in the industry. Corporate governance has become a big challenge,” said Icifa chairman George Wakah.

“The disciplinary committee’s main function is to ensure that members who breach practice standards and the code of conduct are disciplined,” said Dr Wakah at a stakeholder briefing Thursday.

The appointment of Mr Wachira sets the stage for investigations into the conduct of rogue dealers working at investment banks and stock brokerage firms penalised by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) for engaging in manipulative trading and unethical practices.

The team will investigate the conduct of individual stockbrokers and advisers at Faida Investment Bank, Standard Investment Bank, SBG Securities, Dyer and Blair, NIC Capital, Kingdom Securities and Sterling Capital fingered by the CMA for allegedly breaching market rules.

READ: 90 financial analysts cleared as new agency moves to weed out fraudsters

ALSO READ: CMA punishes brokers for illicit trading at NSE

The Investment and Financial Analysts Act (2015) demands that all professionals working in the industry must be licensed by Icifa.

Other members of the eight-member disciplinary team are National Bank’s investment and custodial operations manager Elizabeth Mwai, financial consultant Derek Abishua, Jane Muthaura (Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya), and Hassan Abubakar representing CMA.

The Attorney -General, National Treasury and Association of Professional Societies in East Africa are yet to nominate representatives to sit in the team.

Mr Wachira has more than three decades experience in accounting, auditing, stockbroking, management, and consulting.

He is a partner at WIA East Africa, a boutique accounting firm. He is also chairman of Investeq Capital Ltd, a firm which funds small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) with working capital.

The financial industry veteran also has interests in real estate, where he is a director at Lamu Two Thousand Ltd – the entity behind the upcoming Lamu Tourism Golf & Leisure Resort City.