Empire FX has named Linda Nkatha Muriuki as its new Head of Sales, the company said today (Monday), the second senior hire the Capital Markets Authority-licensed broker has pulled from Pepperstone in less than a week.

Muriuki joins from Pepperstone, where she handled major client accounts and supported the broker's regional commercial efforts, according to Empire FX.

She reports to Sahil Patel, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) Empire FX hired from Pepperstone's Africa business last Thursday.

A Second Pull From Pepperstone's Africa Bench

Patel spent more than six years building Pepperstone's African operation, leading the firm's Kenya entity from 2020 and ending his tenure as head of Africa. His move to Empire FX was framed by the company last week as the opening step of a broader push to scale globally from its Nairobi base.

Muriuki's arrival makes the pattern harder to dismiss as coincidence. Both hires come from the same competitor, both have direct exposure to the African market, and both now anchor Empire FX's commercial leadership.

Patel said Muriuki "brings a deep understanding of client behaviour, particularly in the African markets," where trust and local relevance shape decision-making, according to a company statement. He pointed to her ability to "combine relationship-driven sales with a strategic, data-led approach" as central to the hire.

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Pepperstone broker holds licenses in the UK, Germany, Cyprus, Kenya, the Bahamas and the UAE, and also recently lost its UK chief executive Iain Rogers to crypto exchange OKX, where he now runs EMEA compliance Compliance In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a Read this Term.

What Muriuki Will Run at Empire FX

Muriuki will lead Empire FX's global sales function, with a stated focus on Africa and other priority regions, the company said. Her remit covers client acquisition, conversion and retention as the broker tries to scale beyond its Kenyan base.

Pepperstone has been one of Kenya's longer-running licensed brokers, operating locally since 2020. Muriuki said in a statement that her focus would be on "building deeper client relationships, improving conversion strategies" and delivering a consistent experience across customer touchpoints.

Competition for Kenyan Traders Picks Up Pace

Empire FX operates in one of the more contested licensed forex markets in Africa.

Kenya's Capital Markets Authority introduced its framework in 2017, and the country now hosts more than 100,000 active retail traders, drawing international brokers to compete for both clients and licensed talent.

The licensed pool has grown quickly. Capital.com entered with local approvals in January 2026, followed by XM, while FP Markets picked up its license in 2025 and IC Markets in 2024.

They sit alongside Pepperstone, Exness, Equiti's FXPesa unit, Scope Markets and INGOT Africa.

The result is a market where commercial leaders with local relationships and customer data have become more valuable to brokers than the platform sitting underneath them.

Empire FX appears to be betting that two Pepperstone veterans can deliver both.

Africa Becomes the Hiring Battleground

The Empire FX hires fit a broader pattern across retail brokers, where European and Australian volumes have flattened and firms are competing for executives who know how to acquire customers in emerging markets.

Exness opened a Cape Town office last year as part of an Africa push. Equiti's FXPesa continues to operate as one of the few homegrown Kenyan brands with scale, while South African regulation Regulation Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Read this Term has drawn brokers including Doo Group toward local branding strategies.