OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
The Astana International Exchange (“AIX”), after successfully establishing itself as a world-class stock exchange, is ready to move forward and find new ways of developing its business further.
At the AIX, we have built up a high-tech trading platform from scratch that offers not only expertise in its field, but also a regulatory environment that is familiar to the foreign investment community. We have a community of 30 trading members, including brokers operating in Kazakhstan, as well as brokers from China, Russia and Europe.
One of the AIX’s objectives is to increase retail investor base and to make investing in securities more accessible. We have created a safe and reliable environment for investors that enables them to make the informed decision, driving conscious investment behaviours. We are working on creating and developing a wide range of financial products to satisfy the growing demand of investors.
In 2022 the AIX introduced a direct subscription platform for the upcoming IPOs in the framework of the Privatization Program of Samruk-Kazyna Fund, providing equal access to all citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan to subscribe to shares in National companies. The tool for the submission of IPO bids by retail investors directly to the selling shareholder in an IPO through a mobile application was used for the first time in the history of the stock market in Kazakhstan during the IPO of the National Company KazMunayGas.
Trading in ordinary shares of KMG started on the AIX on December 8, 2022. We consider the participation of retail investors via the direct subscription solution achieved via Tabys mobile app and the branch network of JSC “Kazpost” as a great achievement – almost 6,000 applications amounting to more than KZT1 bn were received.
Among various instruments there were three new exchange-traded notes listed on the AIX: first RMB denominated ETNs with the shares of CNYA – one of the largest ETFs providing exposure to the performance of equity market in China; Islamic ETNs with the shares of ISDW with investment made exclusively in Shari’ah compliant securities; Real Estate ETNs with the shares of Vanguard Real Estate ETF as underlying asset.
AIX has provided the local business community with yet another quick and cost-effective way of raising working capital – Commercial Papers. The relevant changes have been introduced to the AIX Markets Listings Rules. Commercial paper is a commonly used type of unsecured, short-term debt instrument issued by companies with proven creditworthiness and typically used for financing the issuer’s short-term working capital needs (payroll, accounts payable, inventories, other operating expenses related to core activities of the issuer).
Citibank Kazakhstan JSC has become a Participant of the AIX Central Securities Depositories (AIX CSD), thereby allowing international institutional investors to hold their assets at the AIX CSD under the bank’s custody.
AIX develops a system of sustainable financing in the stock market and provides professional support to the participants in this process. We expect the ESG bond and green bond market in Kazakhstan to continuously grow on the back of global incentives for the adoption of sustainable development practices and the implementation of ESG goals among both issuers and investors.
In 2022, the range of responsible financing products on AIX was expanded by introducing a new chapter to the AIX Business Rules on issuance and listing of ESG-Labelled Bonds using “open architecture” structure. This structure gives flexibility to issuers to attract responsible financing for their sustainability-linked projects through a wider range of instruments under internationally recognized standards. The ESG-Labelled Bonds may include social and sustainable and other ESG-labelled bonds such as blue bonds, transition bonds and sustainability-linked bonds on AIX.
STRATEGIC AREAS OF AIX DEVELOPMENT
