This Financial Sector Assessment (FSA) is based on the work of the joint International Monetary Fund (IMF)- World Bank missions that visited Kenya from July 15 to July 24,2003, and from September 30 to October 15, 2003, in the context of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). The principal objective of the missions was to assist the Kenyan authorities in assessing the development needs and opportunities for the financial sector and identifying potential vulnerabilities of financial institutions and markets to macroeconomic shocks, as well as the risks to macroeconomic stability from weaknesses and shortcomings in the financial sector. In this context, Kenya's compliance with the Basel core principles for Effective Banking Supervision (BCP); International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for securities regulation; and corporate insolvency and creditor rights issues was formally assessed. A separate mission to assess Anti-Money Laundering (AML) or Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) took place in October and November 2003; the Report on Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) from that mission is included in the FSAP documentation.