2021 Strategy Session

It gives me pleasure to present the fourth annual newsletter for the Fund Managers’ Association (FMA).

After an understandably quiet period in terms of activities for the FMA in 2020, with a reduction in COVID related restrictions, I am pleased to report that the last year has seen a marked increase in the number and level of initiatives relating to important industry matters that the FMA has been engaged in. As a reminder, the FMA has six sub-committees manned by either council members or representatives of member firms.

These are:

• Stakeholders
• Public Markets
• Alternatives Investments
• CSR and Staff Affairs
• Collective Investment Schemes

Each is currently headed by an Executive Council member, usually a CEO, but usually supported by a team selected from the wide range of member firms with an objective of ensuring that the FMA gets access to a broad range of skills, knowledge and experience.

I am delighted to report that each Committee has made a mark in 2021. There are too many initiatives to list in total, but during the year, the FMA has formally engaged National Treasury (NT), Central Bank of Kenya, Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Institute of Certified Investment & Financial Analysts (ICIFA), Kenya Pension Fund Investment Consortium (KEPFIC), Association of Retirement Benefits Schemes, Retirement Benefits Authority, Nairobi Securities Exchange, Actuarial Society of Kenya, Custodians Association and the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation among others. Further, through our committees, the FMA has made numerous proposals on regulations, some of which have since been adopted into law.

The FMA is also currently represented on the NT’s Task Force to develop a Comprehensive National Retirement Benefits Policy and the FMA has now signed Memorandum’s of Understanding with both ICIFA and the CMA.

Other FMA’s core values include Education and Standards and it also is encouraging that over 100 employees of FMA member firms are now members of ICIFA, further entrenching an ethos of professionalism within the industry and hopefully a feeling of pride in the work that we do.

Therefore, as we reflect on the past year, I am confident that the FMA is on the right track. Despite the challenges of the COVID pandemic, the Association is not only increasingly trusted and respected as an industry body; but also more. importantly, our profession is becoming better understood and our activities and professionalism more widely valued. None of this would be possible without the time, commitment and effort of our Executive Council Members, our Secretariat and the volunteers from our member firms who sit on our Committees’.

I thank you all for your service and look forward to engaging with you in 2022.