About the Department

1. Introduction

The Department of Financial and Sectoral Affairs has an overall mandate of overseeing the development of policy, legal and regulatory framework to guide the operations of the Financial Sector that foster stability, efficiency and access to financial services in Kenya. In addition, it is charged with the responsibility of formulating, reviewing, analyzing and researching on sectoral policies towards addressing national development goals. It is the link between the National Treasury and the financial services sector regulators and therefore the convener for the Financial Services Sector. It is also the link between National Treasury and other sectors of the economy.

In addition, the Government's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) recognizes the Financial Services Sector as a key enabler in achieving national socio-economic development. BETA focuses on five core pillars: Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Housing and Settlement, Healthcare and Digital Superhighway and Creative Economy. An efficient and inclusive financial sector is essential in supporting these pillars through access to finance, investment mobilization, and financial stability.

The mandate of the department is to oversee formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of financial services sector policies and support sectoral economic policies and strategies. Specific responsibilities of the Department include:

1. Providing technical support to trade and investment negotiations under regional integration, multilateral and bilateral arrangements;
2. Providing leadership in negotiations of International Investment Agreements;
3. Coordinating research on financial and sectoral issues to inform policy development;
4. Conducting impact assessment of bilateral and multilateral economic and financial agreements on financial and other sectors;
5. Providing analysis of financial implication of policies and measures including infrastructure development and governance reforms on socio-economic development;
6. Liaising with all sectors of the economy on matters of financial and sectoral development;
7. Promoting financial inclusion through spearheading development and implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy;
8. Coordinating implementation of policies of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism and Counter-Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction;
9. Formulating policies on climate and disaster risk finance;
10. Coordinating programmes and projects related to the financial sector, regional integration, and climate finance among others;
11. Coordinating mobilization of climate finance from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Global Environment Facility (GEF), Adaptation Fund (AF), Bilateral and Multilateral organizations and other sources;
12. Designing, coordinating and implementing initiatives geared towards enhancing financing of key economic segments such as MSMEs and other underserved persons/sectors; and
13. Spearheading the development, tracking and reporting the progress of the implementation of the Vision 2030 projects in the Financial Services Sector Plan.

2. Role in Vision 2030 Implementation

The Department implements the Vision 2030 Projects under the Financial Services Sector (FSS) Plan. The Projects/ Programmes being implemented through the Department are as follows:

1. Kenya Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS);
2. Rural Kenya Financial Inclusion Facility (RK-FINFA);
3. Nairobi International Financial Center (NIFC);
4. Payment Ecosystems Interoperability;
5. Digital Finance;
6. Green Financing.

The Department works closely with financial sector regulators and agencies in the development and implementation of policies, laws and regulations. The regulators include: