BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr.20
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
AFSA, the regulator of Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), introduced a number of targeted measures to support AIFC participants, ensure market integrity and financial stability, Trend reports with reference to AIFC.
The AIFC said that these measures are designed to alleviate the negative impact on regulated firms due to the exceptional circumstances caused by COVID-19. The regulator has also revised plans for the submission of mandatory reports, which will allow companies - market participants - to focus on customer support and their business activities in this difficult period.
“One of the immediate steps that AFSA has taken was the extension of the deadlines for submitting various types of mandatory reporting for 30 calendar days after the end of the state of emergency in Kazakhstan,” the AIFC said.
The AIFC emphasizes that the regulator is operating in business as usual mode and continues performing supervision over the financial markets. All financial services and AIFC platforms remain open and accessible to market participants.
“AFSA also maintains regular contacts with national regulators, foreign peer regulators and international standard setting organisations to ensure the efficient supervision of financial markets, cross-border transactions and coordinate responses to COVID-19 impacts. AFSA actively participates in ongoing discussions of possible regulatory actions in connection with COVID-19 and consumer protection measures on margins of IOSCO, IAIS, FinCoNet and others,” the report said.
At the same time, AFSA draws the attention of authorised persons to the importance of complying with requirements for systems and controls, particularly for policies on risk management, cyber-security and business continuity, and on ensuring the financial and operational resilience.
“AFSA expects that prudentially regulated firms will actively manage their liquidity and should immediately report to the AFSA if there are reasons to believe the firm will be in difficulty. AIFC capital and liquidity requirements are benchmarked to international standards of Basel III and should ensure resilience to economic stress. All authorised persons should immediately inform the AFSA of any significant developments and matters that could impact their ability to meet regulatory requirements,” the report said.
Currently 438 companies are registered in the AIFC. Since the beginning of the year, AIFC registered 75 new participants. These companies represent 40 countries, including the companies from Kazakhstan, Russia, China, Great Britain, the USA, India, Finland, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and others.
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