I&M Capital is gearing for regional expansion and looking to grow market share following the decision by Kenya’s market regulator the Capital Markets Authority, CMA to grant the investment firm an intermediary Service Platform Provider Licence (ISPP).

The ISPP license issued earlier this year allows I&M Capital, a fully owned subsidiary of I&M Bank, to roll out a suite of investment products and services powered by cutting edge digital platforms.

This comes as state and regional market authorities continue to push for the establishment of robust digital investment platforms that can adapt to the impact that technologies such as artificial intelligence, (AI) and blockchain will have on investment products and advisory services.

In the last two quarters alone, the CMA has issued more than half a dozen licenses to firms looking to deploy digital investment services and also expanded the mandate of several existing players, in an effort to strengthen capital markets capacity and stimulate the development of new products and services.

These include two fintech firms that have been licensed as ISPPs alongside I&M Capital and four other firms that have received licenses, allowing them to roll out services ranging from online foreign exchange brokerage to investment advisory.

According to the CMA, the new license issuances strengthen the distribution infrastructure of the country’s investment schemes, expands regulated access points for retail investors and deepens the capital market.

“By lowering barriers to investment participation, the platforms are expected to broaden investor access, promote financial inclusion and contribute to a more diversified and resilient investor base,” says the CMA in its industry report for the fourth quarter of 2025/26.

As an ISSP, I&M Capital now has the regulatory green light to operate technology platforms that facilitate market transactions and the distribution of investment products and services at scale.

In this endeavor, the investment firm will be leaning on lessons gleaned from its parent firm I&M Bank Group, that has in the recent past recorded significant gains from investing in its digital ecosystem, both in retail and corporate banking.

“We have been seeing a lot of innovation in the digital space and we have seen that most of the customers that are onboarding are coming through our digital channels,” said I&M Group CEO Kihara Maina during the firm’s investor briefing last month.

“We have seen 28 per cent growth in our customer numbers and 41 per cent growth in the MSME space and with 99 percent service availability you can understand why we have the high number of digitally active customers that we have,” said.

In its latest push I&M Capital joins an increasingly active digital investment marketplace that has in recent years recorded a flurry of activity from new market entrants, existing commercial banks and investment firms angling for a slice of the pie.

These range from micro-savings and investment platforms, stock-trading apps and currency trading platforms tailored for the local capital markets that are growing in adoption and usage.

However I&M Capital is banking on its existing customer base, product portfolio and significant digital capex to gain an edge in the market particularly among younger and tech savvy investors.

The firm’s regional footprint also makes it relatively easier to deploy new products and services across markets it operates, including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Mauritius, providing it a wider distribution footprint compared to existing players.

“Wealth management solutions had traditionally been available primarily to high net worth individuals,” said I&M Capital Group CEO Silas Ngumi during the launch of I&M Capital in Uganda last month.

“We saw an emerging group of young professionals, entrepreneurs, and emerging affluent individuals who are building wealth and increasingly asking important questions about how to grow their wealth. We wanted to make professional wealth management more accessible to this group of investors and that became the foundation of I&M Capital.”

This article was first published by Citizen Digital