Day to day, we offer the following services:

1. Account Opening and Maintenance — We open and maintain share trading accounts (CDS accounts). Keeping a secure record of everything you own safely in the CDS.
2. Central Depository — We safekeep all listed equities and corporate bonds electronically in the CDS, with robust security, confidentiality and data protection measures.
3. Clearing & Settlement — After every trade, we move securities to the buyer and ensure money reaches the seller.
4. Immobilization of Securities — We convert physical share certificates into secure electronic records in your CDS Account, eliminating the risks of loss, theft, forgery and enabling you to trade.
5. Own Account Transfers — We facilitate the transfer of securities from one Central Depository Agent to another, allowing investors to move stockbrokers or custodians while holdings remain in their name.
6. Private Transfers — We process private transfers of securities between parties like gifts and transfers of deceased estates (transmission), under strict verification controls.
7. Securities Pledging — We electronically mark your securities as pledged so you can use them as collateral for a loan. We lift the pledge on your securities once your loan obligation is settled, restoring your full ability to trade them.
8. Corporate Actions Processing — We maintain the official register of owners and work with registrars, so your dividends, rights issues and bonus shares reach you automatically.
9. Securities Lending & Borrowing (SLB) — We operate a regulated platform, through approved SLB Agents, that lets you earn income by lending idle shares or borrowing shares for strategies such as short selling.
10. Data & Analytics — CDSC provides bespoke authoritative market data and insights on investor behavior and market activity relied upon by issuers, regulators, analysts, researchers and the media.
11. Issuer Services — We support issuers through IPOs, listings and other corporate events, ensuring allocations land cleanly in investors' CDS Accounts.

It is a secure electronic account that holds your shares and bonds in your own name.

Yes. We are regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).

You open it through a Central Depository Agent (CDA). This is a licensed stockbroker, investment bank, or custodian bank. Get the full list here Central Depository Agents – The Central Depository & Settlement Corporation Limited(CDSC). You will complete and sign the Securities Account Opening Form. You can also open or link an account digitally via the Dosikaa App.

For an individual or joint account, your CDA will ask for:

• Original National ID or passport (foreign documents must be notarized), plus a copy;
• Two recent, colored passport-size photographs;
• Your KRA PIN certificate;
• A completed and signed CDS 1 form.

Companies, Chamas & other registered groups: provide the certificate of incorporation or registration, a board resolution, and (for companies) the CR12. Directors provide their IDs and photos.

Junior accounts: You can invest for your child using their birth certificate plus the parent's/guardian's documents.

• Immediate, secure electronic transfer of securities;
• No risks of physical certificates — no loss, theft, forgery or bad delivery;
• Less paperwork and automated trading and settlement.
• A nomination facility, and the ability to hold equities, bonds, and Government securities in a single account;
• Automatic credit of shares arising from splits, bonuses, consolidations, or mergers;
• Centralized account management, like updates to your contact information or dividend disposal preference, updates your records across every company you hold.

Today there are a few routes, and they differ in one important way — whether the shares are held in your own CDS account or pooled on your behalf:

1. Through a stockbroker or investment bank (a CDA).

Through this route, you get your own CDS account at CDSC, registered in your name, and trade through your broker's platform, app, or in person. You hold direct legal title to your shares.

2. Through the Dosikaa app.

This is a capital-markets industry app (supported by CMA, NSE, CDSC, KASIB and licensed stockbrokers) that lets you open a new share account or link your existing CDS account and trade on the NSE from your phone. You still hold your own CDS account.

3. Through M-PESA Ziidi Trader.

A feature inside the M-PESA app that lets you buy and sell NSE shares from your M-PESA wallet, from as little as one share, with no separate broker paperwork. Ziidi Trader uses a pooled (omnibus/nominee) structure — your shares are held on your behalf by the appointed broker rather than in a personal CDS account in your own name.

In your own CDS account, the shares are registered in your name at CDSC. You hold direct legal title, appear on the company register, and receive entitlements directly. With the pooled/nominee platform (e.g., Ziidi Trader), a licensed intermediary holds the shares on your behalf in an omnibus account, and your stake is tracked within that platform. This makes onboarding very fast, but you do not hold an individual CDS account for those shares. Both routes are CMA-regulated; choose the one that matches how directly you want to hold your investment.