At the Emerging and Frontier Markets Opportunities Conference in London, Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan Deputy Chair Nurzhan Tursynkhanov presented the main elements of the draft Capital Market Development Program through 2030. The program, developed with the National Bank of Kazakhstan, seeks to expand the market and investor base, improve liquidity and issuer access to funding, and strengthen investor and creditor protection. A central proposal would raise the share of pension assets managed by private domestic asset managers from 0.3% to 20-30% by 2030. The reforms respond to limited trading despite market growth. Outstanding debt securities have reached USD 115 billion, or about 36% of gross domestic product, while equity market capitalization has more than doubled to USD 83 billion, or about 26% of GDP. Pension assets total about USD 57 billion, 99.7% of which is managed by the National Bank. Bond turnover remains about 9%, falling to 3% for corporate bonds and 1.4% for equities, while free float is about 21%. Planned measures include simplified and digital issuance, base prospectuses for regular issuers, partial credit guarantees, national rating infrastructure and securitization. The program would also establish centralized securities lending infrastructure, introduce covered short selling, improve market making and develop larger benchmark government issues with predictable issuance calendars and a stronger primary dealer system. Creditor protection proposals cover pre-agreed restructuring, collective decision-making, bond trustees and recognition of foreign insolvency proceedings.
2026-09-15Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan presents draft 2030 reforms, targets private management of 20-30% of pension assets
Kazakhstan’s financial market regulator presented the main elements of its draft 2030 capital market program, including a target to place 20-30% of pension assets under private domestic management, up from 0.3%. The reforms would simplify issuance, expand investment products and introduce securities lending and covered short selling to address weak liquidity. They also propose stronger restructuring, bond trustee and cross-border insolvency mechanisms for creditor protection.