Awards 2006: Japheth Katto – ACCA member achievement

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The ACCA Achievement Award for 2006 is being presented to Japheth Katto, the chief executive officer of the Uganda Capital Markets Authority (CMA).

He has been the driving force in nurturing Uganda’s emerging capital markets, and has led the way in helping to demystify the concept of owning shares in a country that only ten years ago did not have a stock exchange.

That work has involved his team of 20 at the CMA introducing a successful public education programme. This includes a new university challenge and the introduction of lessons on capital markets and corporate governance into the secondary school curriculum.

Eight companies and 20 bonds are listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange, which was approved in 1997 by the CMA as the country’s only stock exchange. Five of the companies are local listings, and Katto is working to encourage family-owned companies to list on the market, by urging them that transparency and good accounting practice are beneficial to business.

He is now working to upgrade Uganda’s laws, so that they are in compliance with the International Organisation of Securities Commission’s (IOSCO) standards, and is undertaking a review of the laws as he is a passionate believer in the need for Uganda to benchmark itself against international standards.

Katto studied with ACCA in the UK and for 15 years worked in regulation and compliance at the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA), both of which gave him experience of the investigations, compliance and enforcement in the financial services industry. This has put him in good stead for his role as chief executive officer at the CMA, a post which he has held since 1998.

Under Katto, the CMA has grown in size and stature. It recently hosted a training programme for regulators from Africa and the Middle East and is now working on projects to develop professional standards for investment advisers and brokers and pensions reform.

COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY

In addition to these considerable responsibilities, Japheth was one of the three commissioners on a Judicial Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Uganda Government to investigate the closure of banks. The Commission made wide-ranging recommendations and some were incorporated in the new Financial Institutions Act.