2025 marked a turning point for the capital market

Rwanda’s capital market made notable progress in 2025 on the back of a raft of regulatory reforms and growing investor confidence with many players defining the year as a turning point for the industry. The Capital Market Authority (CMA) embarked on refining the regulatory environment to facilitate product innovation, strengthen the market infrastructure, and enhance investor protection. Reflecting on the reforms, outgoing Chief Executive Officer of CMA, Thapelo Tsheole said that the new regulations would help Rwanda position itself as an international financial services center. “Apart from enhancing the development of the capital markets in Rwanda, the regulations are a requirement that will help the country attain a good standing as it moves towards becoming an international financial services center.” “We finalised the law governing the Central Securities Depository, which went through parliament and was gazetted,” Tsheole said, adding that the law governing the Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) is in the final process of gazzetting. CMA also plans to develop the regulation on Exempted Collective Investment Schemes in the 2025/2026 Financial year. The Corporate Governance Code was also revised, with guidelines for Green Social and Sustainability bonds issued. The Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE) rules for Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) were also approved with the aim of providing investors with diverse investment options. According to RSE CEO Pierre-Célestin Rwabukumba, the regulatory reforms will have a positive impact on the market. “The regulatory reforms have been quite robust, as we had key pieces of legislation coming through, from the ETFs and REITs, to the Multicurrency denominated instruments, Green Exchange platforms as well as the Central Securities Depository law. All these will open the space for more players who may wish to come to the market in the future,” he said. Rwabukumba added, “Now that the regulatory environment is set, we are talking to potential issuers of REITs and ETFs and we should see these instruments hit the market any time soon.” Market performance According to a recently published CMA Annual report for the 2024/2025 Fiscal Year, the RSE Rwanda Share Index was up by 14 per cent, market capitalization, which is the total value of all listed companies’ shares, was up by 3 per cent, while corporate bond issuances were up 61 per cent during the year ended June 2025. RSE CEO described the market performance in 2025 as solid with most of the indicators in the green. “Numbers by the end of November 2025 indicate that we have surpassed our performance for the whole year of 2024. Market capitalization is up by 14.8 percent while the turnover grew by 25.8 percent,” Rwabukumba told The New Times. In the year ended June 2025, CMA approved the issuance of three debt instrumnents including a traditional bond by Mahwi Grain Millers, a green bond by Prime Energy Plc, and a sustainability linked bond by BRD Plc. Mahwi Grain Millers Plc, which successfully issued its Rwf5 Billion corporate bond, described the move to go to the capital market as strategic and beneficial to the company. “For Mahwi Grain Millers Plc, going to the capital market was not just about raising money; it was a strategic step toward sustainable growth, competitiveness, and long-term value creation,” Managing Director Jean Claude Uwizeyemungu said. Uwizeyemungu highlighted that part from accessing long term capital, going to the capital market enabled the company to scale and serve the export market and launch new products. “Since the listing, the company has gained brand credibility, greater visibility and easier access to future funding.” Though the market saw some listings on the corporate bonds side, the pace was slow. For instance, the market has not seen any initial public offering (IPO) in a long time. “This is more of a continental issue rather than a local one,” Rwabukumba argued. Technology evolution Technology was a game changer for the capital market, helping to ease trading and investor engagement with Rwabukumba revealing that the RSE completed the first phase of automating the trading platform and embarking on phase two, which will see them linking to the rest of the region. “Today, we are counting at least close to 300,000 direct or indirect active investors on the market, which will be even bigger once we introduce mobile technology and Direct Market Access (DMA) meant to bring in diaspora members in numbers. This project is also underway in collaboration with BNR and the telcos,” he said. Increased roadshows The Capital Market Issuer Roadshows were concluded in November 2025. According to CMA’s Tsheole, the roadshows were focused on increasing awareness and encouraging participation in the capital markets. “Our main goal was to get as many people as possible to the market in terms of investors and as many issuers as possible, in terms of business,” Tsheole said. “So far, as a result of the roadshows, we have had a more than 25 percent increase in unit trusts and an increased interest in terms of people wanting to come to the market to issue instruments,” he added. Future With all the groundwork laid in 2025, what does 2026 hold for the capital markets? “2026 will mark our transition from the many reforms and regulations introduced in 2025,” Rwabukumba said. “We are likely to see an ETF listing and possibly a REIT product coming to the market.” He also highlighted that he was hopeful to also see the first municipal bond, dollar denominated instrument, and the launch of the long-awaited Islamic Finance products framework. RSE is also pushing for products on the new Green Exchange as well as focusing on the 4th cohort of the Investment Clinic, which will hopefully bring new listings on the bourse.

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2025 marked a turning point for the capital market