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Eurasia
February 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 23
terpart. An official new TV channel will be launched under the AIFC, according to the agreement.
Some of the projects planned for launch this month under the AIFC include an international
IT start-up hub as well as a “green” technologies centre developed in partnership with the UN. The two projects alone are expected to attract invest- ments worth $40bn into the country, according to Kazakh media.
The AIFC website announced in December that the financial centre has entered into a partner- ship with the Microsoft BizSpark programme for the duration of one year. Under the programme, fintech start-ups “get free licensed Microsoft soft- ware for design, development, product testing and placing services on the internet, as well as expert support of corporation and its partners by partici- pating in Microsoft BizSpark”. Moreover, the AIFC said in December the fintech start-ups will also benefit from the financial hub’s cooperation with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Specifically, selected start-ups will participate in the AWS Activate programme, which is aimed at supporting young companies by providing them with free access to cloud resources and technological infrastructure necessary for business development.
The AIFC planned to launch a new stock exchange in January, but the launch may have been at least partially delayed as the news of the plans for its launch are still circulating in the Kazakh media. No official statement has been made regarding its launch since the beginning of January. The coun- try's existing bourse in the largest Kazakh city Almaty is widely regarded as a flop and analysts are none too sure that this second go in the capi- tal will be a success either.
However, the new exchange is 25.1% owned by the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), which might lend it some credence. Moreover, Nasdaq stock exchange has signed an agreement in May last year to provide trading technology infrastructure to AIFC and has officially become a shareholder and “strategic partner” for the AIFC’s new bourse. Nasdaq’s exact share in the Astana International Exchange (AIX) is unclear.
The bourse is aiming to attract most of the major flotations planned under Kazakhstan’s privatisa- tion programme. Sovereign wealth fund Samruk- Kazyna is currently preparing seven state-owned companies for IPOs. The government, which has contended with a plunge in revenues from oil, previously said it plans to sell stakes of at least 25% in 45 large state-owned companies. Initially, it hopes to attract investors via the planned IPOs of Air Astana and the world’s second largest ura- nium miner Kazatomprom in 2018. Kazatomprom has already hired JP Morgan as its lead adviser for a London listing planned for 2018.
The AIFC also holds cryptocurrency ambitions. Malta-based investment company EXANTE signed in October a memorandum of cooperation on developing Kazakhstan’s cryptocurrency markets as well as “positioning the AIFC as an interna- tional financial technology centre”. According to the agreement, EXANTE will launch the Stasis platform, which is a financial and technological infrastructure for launching digital assets, allow- ing fiat currencies to be tokenised into their digital versions via blockchain. EXANTE also agreed to cooperate with the AIFC on cryptocurrency market regulations and to support the evolution of the Kazakh capital Astana’s “fintech-ecosystem”.