A 1.1 billion tenge (about $2 million) securitized bond issue has been listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). The transaction was arranged by Freedom Broker. It marks the first securitization on Kazakhstan’s organized market in seven years. The securities are available to retail investors. How the deal was structured…
Several of Kazakhstan’s largest banks have suspended mortgage lending after the central bank raised the base rate to 18%, except Freedom Bank and Otbasy Bank, which specializes in housing savings and offers mortgages at preferential rates. Halyk Bank, Nurbank and ForteBank have temporarily suspended their mortgage programs. Bank CenterCredit continues…
LVMH posted a 1% increase in third-quarter sales, buoyed by stronger spending in China and other Asian markets, excluding Japan. The world’s largest luxury group reported «noticeable» improvement in Asia, revealing positive overall results for the first time in 2025, according to Reuters. Quarterly revenue rose to $21.17 billion, beating…
China is shifting toward a more assertive strategy with the U.S., blending offense and defense, according to Gu Qingyang, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Although both Beijing and Washington had shown signs of easing tensions in recent months, that optimism faded quickly after China’s…
Google plans to build a major artificial intelligence (AI) hub in southern India, marking its largest such project outside the U.S., CNBC reported. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian announced that the company will invest $15 billion in the project over the next five years. The new data center will help…
Zaman Bank, Kazakhstan’s Islamic bank, rolled out its first retail product this year — unsecured Islamic consumer loans with a maximum loan amount of 3 million tenge (about $5,500) — while progress on Islamic mortgages remains to be seen, according to the bank’s CEO Gulfairuz Assayeva. Notably, the bank made…
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Monday awarded the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to American-Israeli economic historian Joel Mokyr and economists Philippe Aghion of France and Peter Howitt of Canada. The three were honored for advancing the understanding…
China has accused the U.S. of «double standards» after President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said such actions could prompt «countermeasures,» adding that China «is not afraid» of a potential trade conflict, according to the BBC. The comments…
The Dutch government has made what it describes as a rare move to step in at Nexperia, a China-owned semiconductor manufacturer based in the Netherlands. Officials say they acted because of risks to national and European economic security, according to the BBC. Following this decision, officials invoked the Goods Availability…
On Oct. 10, Kazakhstan’s National Bank raised its base rate by 1.5 percentage points (p.p.) to 18%, with a range of +/–1 p.p. The previous level of 16.5% was set in March 2025 and maintained following the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meetings in April, June, July and August. The regulator…
Kazakhstan is introducing a temporary permitting procedure for the import of slot machines, a measure aimed at combating illegal and problem gambling, the government’s press office reported. Under the new rules, only organizations holding a state gambling license will be allowed to import slot machines. Last summer, Kazakhstan tightened gambling…
Kazakhstan’s stock market capitalization reached 39.6 trillion tenge (about $72 billion) as of Sept. 1, 2025. The figure grew 5.1% in August and 20.4% year to date. Shares of companies listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) index — Kaspi.kz (+6.6%), Kazatomprom (+8.7%) and ForteBank (+15.5%) — were the main…
China has imposed new restrictions on exports of rare earth elements. These materials are key to advanced technologies. The move expands China’s control over a supply chain vital to global manufacturing, as the country produces about 61% of the world’s rare earth supply and handles over 90% of the industry’s…
The value of Kazakhstan’s net international reserves reached $55.5 billion at the end of September 2025, according to data released by the National Bank. Soaring gold prices played a major role in the increase. The reserves increased by $3.3 billion (6.3%) month-on-month. Since the start of the year, they have…
Japan’s university admissions process includes an element that often surprises outsiders — the practice of charging «multiple enrollment fees,» a recent report on Eastasiaforum.org highlighted. At many private institutions, students who receive an acceptance offer must pay a nonrefundable enrollment fee, typically ranging from $1,360 to $2,040. This payment is…
Forbes Kazakhstan ranked billionaire and owner of ForteBank, Bulat Utemuratov, as the most influential businessman in Kazakhstan in 2025. According to the ranking, he climbed from third place last year. The top five includes: Vyacheslav Kim, co-founder of Kaspi.kz and owner of Alatau City Bank (retained position); Nurlan Smagulov, owner…
In the first six months of 2025, Kazakhstan experienced a significant outflow of money, with 321.2 billion tenge (about $590 million) transferred abroad through international money transfer systems, according to a report from the National Bank. In contrast, only about $190 million was sent into Kazakhstan from overseas, highlighting a…
Clean energy has reached a historic milestone. For the first time, wind and solar power have generated more electricity globally than coal, signaling a decisive shift in the world’s energy landscape, according to The Guardian, which cited a report by the climate think tank Ember. This achievement was highlighted during…
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has secured a landmark deal with OpenAI to supply large-scale AI computing infrastructure, positioning AMD as a significant competitor in the highly lucrative artificial intelligence hardware market. The chipmaker states that this agreement could generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue, according to a Bloomberg…
Gold prices surged to a new record above $3,900 an ounce in early Asian trading on Monday, as investors sought safety in the metal amid an ongoing U.S. government shutdown and growing expectations of further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, according to Reuters. Spot gold jumped 0.6% to…
Kazatomprom, world’s largest uranium producer, said it will not issue new shares or pursue an additional public offering. The company confirmed this to Arman Batayev, author of Finmentor.kz Telegram channel. The statement followed a Bloomberg report on Oct. 2 that suggested Kazatomprom was considering an additional listing on international exchanges…
Kazakhstan aims to increase the number of local specialists in senior roles at the company operating the Karachaganak field. This field is one of the world’s largest oil and gas condensate sites, located in the country’s northwest. KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Askhat Khassenov and Luca Vignati, Eni SpA’s upstream director, discussed…
Businesses in the Halloween sector are struggling under higher U.S. import tariffs on Chinese goods, with increased costs passed on to retailers and consumers, according to CNN. Chris Zephro, co-founder of Trick or Treat Studios in Santa Cruz, California, said his company has already paid more than $800,000 in tariffs…
Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, has appointed an artificial intelligence system to its board of directors, giving it voting rights and decision-making authority. The neural network, known as SKAI (Samruk-Kazyna Artificial Intelligence), was formally introduced on Thursday at the Digital Bridge international forum in Astana, where it was presented to…
