If you thought investor funds are now secure following stringent measures put in place by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to arrest unscrupulous trading practices, you are wrong.

A few months after stockbrokers, investment banks and a host of other financial intermediaries were ordered to publish their books of accounts, an asset manager is in the news for the wrong reasons.

Old Mutual Asset Managers (Omam), Kenya’s biggest fund manager, on Thursday suspended the head of finance and two other senior managers in the finance and risk departments to allow investigations into irregular trading that could have cost investors huge amounts of money.

Preliminary indications are that the suspended managers gambled with money entrusted to them in unit trusts and, together with stockbrokers, engaged in actions that have led to loss of money of clients looking for safe investment options.

It is sad that instead of the management moving with speed to arrest the situation, a communiquÈ released by the chief executive hinted more at saving face for the organisation than tackling the problem at hand.

It is even sadder that such irregular trading practises—which means that a number of investors are most likely to have lost hard earned cash—had been reported by Omam auditors but nobody seemed to have taken note.

Worst still, coming so soon after financial intermediaries published books of accounts that left many with more questions than answers, the development is bound to erode investor confidence at a time when what the market needs most is re-assurance that their money is safe.

Now it is Omam, tomorrow it could be any other firm. It is time the authorities reined in culprits in the sector and put in place measures that protect investors and encourage good practice.

True, the CMA has tightened the loose ends, but a lot more needs to be done.

Legislation on its own is not enough to whip criminal elements into line. There’s must be concerted efforts by stockbrokers, investment banks and fund managers to protect the integrity of their profession