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Keith Mukami

Partner
Head of Africa: Banking & Regulatory

Keith Mukami | Head of Africa: Banking & Regulatory | South Africa

Keith Mukami

Partner
Head of Africa: Banking & Regulatory

T +27 (0) 87 210 0711
M +27 (0) 79 181 1805
CMS RM Partners
85 Grayston Drive
5th Floor
Sandton
2196
Johannesburg
South Africa
Languages English, French, Swahili

Keith is a cross-border lawyer specialising in banking, regulatory and capital markets across Africa.  

He was previously the head of the commodities practice at an international law firm.  He has advised extensively on banking; regulatory and capital markets matters across the African continent for many years. 

Keith is a dual qualified lawyer in England and Tanzania and has extensive experience advising a variety of clients in private practice and in house (including development finance institutions - World Bank, Afrexim, AfDB, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Agricole CIB). 

Keith has extensive experience advising on the establishment and operation of a range of businesses across the African continent. In doing so, he has engaged with a wide range of intermediaries and senior policy makers (particularly securities regulators and Central Banks) across the length and breadth of the African continent. 

He advises on perimeter issues, compliance with regulatory rules in African markets, banking, investment management, derivatives, brokerage, custody and outsourcing arrangements, and has experience drafting legislation for African governments.

Prior to joining CMS South Africa, he headed the Legal Department of the first pan African network of spot and derivative exchanges, clearing houses and depository platforms working closely with Afrexim and AfDB. 

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Relevant experience

  • The Government Employees Pension Fund of South Africa (represented and acting through the Public Investment Corporation Limited) - in a transaction involving the securities lending and delta placement of Vodacom Group Limited shares supported by a collar derivative structure 
  • A South African based consortium - on a banking licence application from SARB 
  • Agricultural Commodity Exchange for Africa (ACE) – in relation to reviewing and updating compliance, operational and governance documents
  • The Government of Malawi/World Bank - on the development of a commodity exchanges bill as well as an appropriate legal and regulatory environment for commodity exchanges in Malawi 
  • The Government of Tanzania/World Bank - on the development and operationalisation of the appropriate market structure for a secondary bond market in Tanzania 
  • The Government of Tanzania/World Bank - on capacity building market intermediaries on derivative markets
  • A large mining company in Botswana - on its commodity hedging programme 
  • The International Finance Corporation and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - on a novel project involving the introduction of agricultural bonds for pre and post-harvest financing in two African jurisdictions 
  • Norfund - on its agreement to acquire a significant stake in Equity Group Holdings (the leading banking group in East Africa) from Helios Investment Partners 
  • A pan - African bank - on the discounting and subsequent listing of Ghana Government notes on the Irish Stock Exchange
  • The first pan African network of spot and derivatives exchanges, clearing houses and depository platforms - initially targeted towards the jurisdictions of Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The exchange is the first to offer exchange trading on commodity derivatives, African and Global currency derivatives, African equity index derivatives, CFDs on commodities and currencies
  • A South African based bank - on a proposed cross listing of a JSE listed ETF into Kenya
  • Capacity building primary regulatory agencies in various forums to close gaps with international standards/norms/best practices and secure compliance with IOSCO/BIS and other international best practice setting bodies
  • An investment bank - as manager on the cross listing of a Kenyan bank onto the Uganda Securities Exchange 
  • Undertaking regulatory due diligence on an investment in a brokerage business in Namibia. Negotiating with and advising on obtaining approval for the transaction with the primary regulators.
  • Licensing of new operations for a bank in Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia 
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Education

  • 1993 - LL.M., University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • 1991 - LL.B., University of Reading, United Kingdom  
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Memberships

  • Member of the Law Society of England and Wales
  • Member of the Tanganyika Law Society
  • Member of the East Africa Law Society
  • Member of the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa
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Publications

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Lectures list

  • Leading a panel discussion at the Southern African Structured Trade Seminar in Zambia on the “finance and risk management of commodity trading.” | June 2018
  • Panelist at the SRP Africa Structured Products & Alternative Investments Conference on “Development of Regulations in Africa | November 2016
  • Panelist on a discussion at the GTR Africa Trade Finance Week on “How long can the African success story last for?” | 2016
  • Panelist on a discussion at the Southern Africa Governance Risk and Compliance summit organised by Thomson Reuters in Johannesburg on the “Increasing extra territorial impact of laws/regulations on African banks and clients”. | September 2015
  • Presenting at the GTR Commodity Finance conference in Lugano, Switzerland on “A land of opportunity: Sub-Saharan Africa”. 
  • Panelist at a conference organised by Thomson Reuters on “Financial services regulation: Key Developments” in Cape Town. 
  • Moderating a panel discussion at a conference organised by Global Trade Review in Cape Town on “What does the impact of regulation mean for borrowers and banks in terms of funding?”. 
  • Presenting at the Association of Futures Markets on the “Important Elements in Establishing a Sustainable Exchange”. 
  • Participating at the “Pan African workshop for Regulators of Derivatives and Commodity Exchanges” held in Gaborone, Botswana. 
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Expertise

7 October 2019
CMS ex­pands in Africa
South Afric­an and Kenyan law firms ad­ded to CMS’s glob­al...
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Press release
July 2019
Ex­perts in Gambling Law
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Brochure
June 2019
CMS Bank­ing & Fin­ance Glob­al Bro­chure
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Brochure