Scope Markets, a global online trading provider, announced this Tuesday that it has officially launched its trading operations in Kenya, and already has 1,000 client accounts open.

The company’s entity in Kenya is SCFM Limited, with the trading name of Scope Markets. The company is a non-dealing online foreign exchange (forex) broker and is licensed by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Kenya’s government regulator for the FX space.

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In particular, Scope Markets provides a trading platform where investors can trade forex, global shares, indices, and commodities. The platform is accessible online, via mobile and desktop.

Speaking to Finance Magnates, Jacob Plattner, the CEO of Scope Markets, said: “At Scope, our strategy has been to take our institutional heritage to the retail market. In order to do that we had to identify some key markets to penetrate in a meaningful way. We have been looking at Africa for a number of years and we identified Kenya as a place where we could build our hub for Africa…”

“We believe that Scope Markets will be the number one online broker in Kenya and soon thereafter Africa. This will help us achieve our ultimate goal of becoming one of the best retail and institutional broker worldwide.”

Plattner said that Kenya has a number of attributes that are important for both retail traders and institutions. Namely, the country has an educated and young workforce, and the country heavily regulates online trading through the CMA.

“A local regulator that understands the product and how to regulate it locally is key in building trust for our clients. This really aligns us to what we feel is needed in order to grow a successful online trading business. Finally, the Kenyan economy is growing rapidly and much of the population is online,” he added

Scope Markets wants to lead the online FX space

SCFM is a fully owned subsidiary of SM Capital Markets Limited, which is a company registered in Cyprus. SM Capital Markets is part of the larger Scope Markets group.

“We want to lead the way in the online forex trading space as an income generating scheme and a means of job creation for the youth in the digital economy,” added Kevin Ng’ang’a, the CEO of Scope Markets Kenya.

“We need to give Kenyans and Africans in general, a safe, secure and regulated platform that they can relate to and easily walk up to and carry out online forex trading. The biggest gap in the trading space is the lack of information, and we as Scope Markets are dedicated to closing this gap through training and capacity building through mentorship.”

Scope Markets expands further into emerging markets

Scope Markets is the second brokerage to secure a non-dealing online forex broker license from the CMA under the new regulations. The forex and contracts for difference (CFD) broker has been actively trying to expand its presence in emerging markets in recent months. The firm’s launch in Kenya appears to be another step along that journey.

As Finance Magnates reported, EGM Securities, Equiti Group’s local subsidiary was the first forex broker to receive a license from the CMA back in April of last year and commenced offering its services in the country in the following month.