The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) published its 2024 results, reporting a sharp increase in registrations and authorisations in the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and outlining operational and regulatory changes intended to streamline market entry. The update also highlights growth in AIFC fund management and digital asset activity, alongside further rulemaking across several regulatory frameworks. Registrations reached 1,174 new participant companies (up from 600 in 2023), taking the total number of registered AIFC companies to over 3,500 across 85 countries. Digital post-registration services were introduced to enable online share transfers and changes to share capital, reducing processing times from 7–10 business days to 1–5 business days depending on submission quality. On authorisation, AFSA licensed 49 financial service providers (total 126) and 21 ancillary service providers (taking licensed consultants to over 130); over one-third of authorised companies hold fund management licences, and three firms migrated from the FinTech Lab sandbox to the full regulatory regime. AFSA recognised 12 jurisdictions as equivalent for recognition of foreign fund managers, removing the need for a gap analysis. The AIFC’s assets under management rose to over USD 1.1 billion by end-2024 (from USD 115 million in early 2021), while registered funds increased from 42 to 101 during 2024; AFSA also registered the first non-exempt retail fund and first Shariah-compliant fund, and permitted listing of exempt funds on an Authorised Investment Exchange. In digital assets, four new exchanges entered the FinTech Lab and Binance and Bybit transitioned to full regulatory status; trading volumes for digital asset service providers exceeded USD 1.4 billion with over 140,000 clients, and JSC QazPost was authorised to conduct fiat transactions with digital assets. AFSA also reported policy work and amendments spanning tokenised commodities and investments, multilateral and organised trading facility rules, AML, terrorist financing and sanctions, insolvency, derivatives, asset management and credit rating agencies, and noted a simplified framework for low-risk firms, ESG disclosure guidance, and eased capital requirements for Islamic financial service providers.
Astana Financial Services Authority 2025-03-06
Astana Financial Services Authority reports 1,174 new AIFC registrations and 49 new financial services licences in 2024
The Astana Financial Services Authority reported increased registrations and authorisations at the Astana International Financial Centre, with new digital services reducing processing times. Key developments include licensing 49 financial service providers, recognition of 12 jurisdictions for foreign fund managers, and growth in fund management and digital asset activities. Policy updates cover tokenised commodities, trading facility rules, AML, and eased capital requirements for Islamic finance.