AI Bond Advisor
What it does
The AI Bond Advisor is an in-app chat interface powered by Claude (Anthropic). It answers questions about Kenya Treasury Bonds in plain English — how they work, how to price them, what to consider when building a portfolio, how auctions work, and what the risks are.
The advisor is conversational: it remembers what you said earlier in the session so you can follow up and refine questions without repeating context. Conversation history is cleared when you click "Clear conversation" or start a new session.
It is not a broker, does not execute transactions, and does not have access to your portfolio data or real-time prices. It is a general-purpose educational tool for bond investors.
What you can ask
- Concepts: "What is modified duration and why does it matter for bonds?"
- Auction mechanics: "How does the CBK Dutch auction work? How do I decide what yield to bid?"
- Pricing: "Explain dirty price vs. clean price. Why do I pay more than face value?"
- Strategy: "I have KES 500,000 to invest and need income every 6 months. Which bond types should I consider?"
- Tax: "What is the difference between WHT on FXD bonds and IFB bonds?"
- Calculations: "Walk me through how to calculate yield-to-maturity on a bond."
- Risk: "What happens to my bond's value if interest rates rise by 2%?"
First-time buyer preparing for a CBK auction
Mary is investing in government bonds for the first time. She has KES 200,000 and sees that the CBK is auctioning FXD1/2030/5 next week. She uses the AI Advisor to understand the process before bidding.
Example conversation
| Speaker | Message |
|---|---|
| Mary | I want to buy FXD1/2030/5 at the CBK auction. It has a 14.5% coupon. What yield should I bid? |
| Advisor | A good starting point is to look at where similar bonds are trading on the NSE secondary market — that's your market reference yield. For a 5-year FXD, if comparable bonds trade around 15.0%, bidding at 14.8%–15.0% keeps you competitive without going too far above market. Bids significantly above market risk getting a large allocation at an unattractive price; bids below the cut-off get nothing. Check the CBK's previous auction results for this bond series to see where the cut-off yield has been. |
| Mary | What's the cut-off yield? |
| Advisor | In a CBK Dutch auction, the CBK accepts bids from the lowest yield upward until it raises the target amount. The highest yield at which bids are still accepted is called the cut-off yield. All successful bidders receive that same cut-off yield, regardless of what they individually bid. So bidding lower than the cut-off means you get allocated at the cut-off rate — still a win. |
| Mary | If I bid KES 200,000 at 15%, how much will I actually pay? |
| Advisor | Use the Primary Market Calculator for the exact figure. At 15% yield on a 14.5% coupon bond, you'll pay slightly below par — around KES 198,000 depending on how many days of interest have accrued. The calculator will give you the precise amount you need in your CDS account by settlement date. |
Limitations
- Not financial advice. The advisor provides educational information only. Always verify calculations with the platform's dedicated calculators and consult a licensed broker for transaction-specific guidance.
- No live data access. The advisor does not know today's NSE prices, current yields, or recent CBK auction results. Use the Bond Database and Yield Curve for live data.
- No portfolio access. The advisor cannot see your holdings or run personalised analysis. Describe your situation in the chat to get relevant responses.
- Session memory only. Conversation history is not saved between sessions. When you return, the advisor starts fresh.
- Requires API key. The AI Advisor only works when an Anthropic API key is configured on the server. If the service is unavailable, the chat will return a 503 response.
Give the advisor context: mention your investment amount, time horizon, and goal. "I have KES 500,000, want income every 6 months, and plan to hold for 3 years" gets a much more useful response than "what bond should I buy?"