Any person conducting capital market business including offering, promoting or selling capital market services or products in Rwanda without a license commits an offense punishable by law, Capital Market Authority (CMA) has warned in a statement issued on November 7.

The authority, which is the capital market regulator says Law N°01/2011f 10/02/2011 on capital market in Rwanda states, in its Article 6 that; "No person shall carry out or purport to carry out capital market business in Rwanda unless he/she is licensed, approved or exempted under this Law”.

In line with its investor protection mandate, the authority cautioned the general public on unlicensed entities or individuals who are carrying on or purporting to carry on offering, promotion or selling of capital market services or products including online forex trading.

"These businesses claim to be duly licensed in Rwanda and often promote investment opportunities through social media,”

"CMA informs investors that it has not yet licensed any entity to provide online forex trading brokerage services in Rwanda and any dealings in this type of investment remain at the investor’s own risk,” CMA added.

On the side of investors, CMA urged that they always ascertain whether the engaging firms are licensed to operate capital market business in Rwanda before accepting to deal in their proposed investment products or services.

CMA also published a list of firms licensed to operate capital market business in Rwanda (https://www.cma.rw/index.php?id=25).