Kazakhstan to combine AIX and KASE next year
During a media briefing Chair of the National Bank Timur Suleimenov told Kursiv.media what combining AIX and KASE will look like and why the move is necessary.
«We have to make it clear. In his address to the nation, the president instructed us to combine the potential of the two stock exchanges, not to combine the exchanges themselves. These are two different tasks because if we want to combine the two exchanges, we must create a new legal entity. We had a task to come up with a decision and we’ve done so. I mean, the National Bank, the ARDFM and AIFC,» Suleimenov said.
According to the official, this decision is currently under consideration by the presidential administration. Once it is approved, the National Bank will publish it and start its implementation. The two stock exchanges are expected to operate in conjunction starting next year.
«We’ve done our job and negotiated our approaches. It wasn’t an easy task as each part of the process wanted a little bit more attention and resources for one stock exchange or the other. Nevertheless, all interested parties contributed a lot to this work,» Suleimenov said.
As he noted, the stock market is one of the most important sources of funding in many countries. So far, Kazakhstan’s economy has been fully reliant on banks. Therefore, without the development of the stock market, you can’t expect the economy to grow significantly anytime soon.
«As you know, the stock market in Kazakhstan is relatively small. That is why when you have two stock exchanges that compete with each other for the same issuers and the same liquidity, it isn’t good. In addition, when it comes to an international IPO, we have to spread liquidity between two points – Almaty and Astana. It’s wrong when they have slightly different technologies,» Suleimenov explained.
According to the regulator, the stock exchange infrastructure should be as united as possible, while liquidity shouldn’t be split to ensure that all financial tools are available on both exchanges. This is why the National Bank wants the presidential administration to review the initiative.
Previously, authorities promised to reveal the AIX and KASE combining scheme in March 2024.
