BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 23. The Financial Investment Forum (FIF 2025) has commenced in Baku, Trend reports.
The event brings together top leaders from the financial sector, including Talat Kalayev, Director of Unicapital Investment Company; Aydin Huseynov, Chairman of Rabitabank’s Board; Jeyhun Hajiyev, Director of PASHA Capital Investment Company; Jeyhun Ibrahimov, Board Member at INVEST-AZ Investment Company; Nadir Babazade, Executive Director of ABB Invest; Mushfig Ahmadli, Advisor to the Chairman of Azerbaijan’s National Depository Center; Dilan Pamir, Capital Markets Advisor and Head of Investment Banking at Türkiye's Development and Investment Bank; Umeyra Ibrahimova, Director of Capital Market Policy and Regulation at the Central Bank; Rauf Jabbarov, Executive Director of the Azerbaijan Cybersecurity Organizations Association; Ogtay Gasimov, Deputy Chairman and Chief Commercial Officer at Baku Stock Exchange; Seçil Yıldız, Deputy CEO and Sustainability & Impact Leader at Türkiye's Development and Investment Bank; and other leading figures from the financial sector.
Hot-button issues revolve around the growth of capital markets, the golden ticket of financing through IPOs, and the digitalization of investment. The forum will also focus on transparency and accountability for investors, risk management, and access to global financial markets.
The FIF 2025 serves as a robust nexus for stakeholders to enhance their comprehension of market dynamics, delve into lucrative investment avenues, and forge strategic alliances. Leveraging historical achievements, the symposium seeks to catalyze disruptive innovation and facilitate strategic scalability within the financial ecosystem.
The Forum provides participants with ample opportunities to better understand market trends, assess potential investment opportunities, and forge new partnerships. Continuing the successes of previous years, FIF 2025 seeks to contribute to the definition of innovative approaches and strategic ways of development in the financial sector.
Addressing the event, Tarlan Rasulov, Director General of the Central Bank, noted that over the past decade, the size of the world's capital markets has grown significantly. Currently, the total volume of these markets exceeds 300 trillion US dollars.
He said that if we consider the dynamics of the last 14 years, there is a significant growth - a growth of about 65 percent has been recorded: “If we consider the market segments, the volume of the global stock market, which is about a third of this market, is currently about $105-110 trillion. Here, too, the growth dynamics are in line with the growth of the overall capital markets.”
“Another interesting indicator is the ratio of capital markets to global gross domestic product (GDP). For example, if 10 years ago the volume of capital markets was 2.3 times the world GDP, this indicator was already about 2.9 times. This fact once again proves the growing role of capital markets in the world economy.
If we summarize these capital markets processes, it should be emphasized that equity financing enhances corporate sustainability. We saw this both during the global financial crisis and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was during this period that companies globally were able to raise an additional $2.1 trillion in equity capital, which is an important factor that facilitates access to alternative sources of financing in times of crisis,” Rasulov noted.
Director of the Agency for Managing Public Debt and Financial Liabilities under the Ministry of Finance Azer Mursagulov noted that due to the successful implementation of the “Medium-term and Long-term Strategy for Managing Public Debt of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, the government bond market has increased about 9 times since 2018, reaching 9 billion manat ($5.2 billion).
He recalled that the significant growth of the government securities market came in 2018:
“In the same year, the document 'Medium- and long-term strategy
for managing the public debt of the Republic of Azerbaijan' was
approved by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan was
adopted. One of the main directions of the strategy was to develop
domestic financial markets, increase domestic borrowings against
the background of gradual reduction of external debt, and expand
the government securities market.”
Since 2018, as a result of the successful implementation of the
strategy, the government bond market has increased by about 9
times, reaching a volume of 9 billion manat ($5.2 billion). This
development has also led to the expansion of other secondary
financial instruments such as the secondary market and repo market.
Thus, during this period, the secondary market increased by 5 times
and the volume of repo transactions by about 60 times.
Whereas earlier the main investors in government securities were banks and insurance companies, recently both institutional and corporate investors, as well as individuals, including foreign citizens, have become part of the investor base. This is an indicator of further deepening and expansion of the market.
In this context, the role of intermediary companies should also be emphasized. Because they contribute to the establishment of effective links between investors and the securities market and ensure participation in the market”, Mursagulov emphasized.
In addition, Mushfig Ahmadli, Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of the National Deposit Center of the Republic of Azerbaijan, said that NDC has launched a project to implement this function, and preliminary operational schemes have been developed.
He stated that the most important infrastructure in the establishment of investment funds is the institution that carries out depository activities for their assets: “According to the law, investment funds must appoint a depositary that keeps a record of their assets at the time of establishment. Despite the interest in establishing investment funds in Azerbaijan, the main problem in this area is the lack of depositories of this type in the private financial sector. The reason for the absence of these depositories is that their establishment is not profitable under the existing market volumes and conditions”.
Will be updated
