First foreign broker to access Kazakhstani ITS platform

Armenian-based Invia Investments is set to become the first international broker to provide access to Kazakhstan’s ITS trading platform for its clients. The broker has recently obtained a license from the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) and completed all necessary procedures to connect to the ITS platform, according to a report presented at the ITS IDEAS 2024 conference during the Astana Finance Days forum.

 «This will soon enable Invia Investments to provide its clients in Armenia with access to trade some of the most liquid global stocks available on ITS. We expect the number of ITS participants from Kazakhstan and other countries to increase significantly over time, leading to more investors worldwide trading international securities on ITS,» said Chair of ITS Chingiz Kanapyanov.

ITS’s extended trading hours — from 10:00 a.m. Astana time until 03:45 a.m. the following day — offer investors the ability to efficiently manage their portfolios and quickly respond to corporate and economic events, even when major listing exchanges are closed.

In May 2024, Armenian broker Armbrok also became a trading member of Kazakhstan’s Astana International Exchange (AIX).

Invia Investments is the only investment firm in Armenia that runs its own technology platform and services. The company provides a wide range of financial services, including brokerage and dealing. It provides its clients with access to trading on major international exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX).

According to the company’s website, the largest voting share in Invia Investments (49%) is held by Aram Kayfajyan, an Armenian citizen. Steven Polyak, a U.S. citizen, holds 14% directly and an additional 9.99% through his company, RRSG Inc. The remaining 27% of the stake is owned by shareholders, each holding less than 10% individually.

On Sept. 3, ITS announced that it had expanded its list of tradable instruments by 57.3%, bringing the total to over 2,700. On Sept. 4, trading will commence for just over 1,000 new stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and U.S. depositary receipts.

ITS was established in June 2023 and is registered with the AIFC. It operates as a multilateral trading facility (MTF) under a license from the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA). Unlike a traditional exchange, ITS does not offer a platform for initial listings; instead, all instruments traded on it are initially listed in other jurisdictions.

While ITS does not facilitate IPOs, its brokers, including Freedom Broker, provide clients with access to initial public offerings of foreign issuers, primarily on major exchanges such as the NYSE, the Nasdaq, the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the Frankfurt Xetra, the pan-European Euronext and the HKEX.