Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.25
By Nigar Guliyeva – Trend:
The Finance Ministry of Kazakhstan, the Astana International Financial Center and Euroclear Bank have signed a memorandum on cooperation to develop a new international clearing system for Kazakhstan, the AIFC reported.
The memorandum fixes the intention to work in partnership to support the creation of a market environment, where foreign investors will be provided access to Kazakh local securities through the Euroclear system.
Finance Minister Bakhyt Sultanov emphasized that once the foreign residents will have a direct access to sovereign securities market through Euroclear, the ministry, as the issuer of sovereign securities, will receive the opportunity to place sovereign securities with more competitive terms that in turn will potentially allow to reduce the cost of borrowing and diversify the investors’ base.
Overal, Kazakh issuers will be able to issue their domestic market securities directly, simply and efficiently through the Euroclear platform, an AA+ rated International Central Securities Depository, whose clients include more than 2,000 financial institutions in more than 90 countries.
«Through Euroclear, Kazakh issuers would have access to both domestic and international investors on the same platform at the AIFC. Borrowing costs for issuers are therefore expected to fall over time, thereby contributing to the development of the economy of Kazakhstan," noted Nurlan Kussainov, CEO of Astana International Financial Centre Authority.
The aim of the AIFC is to form a leading international centre of financial services. For the first time in post-Soviet region Common law framework is introduced in the AIFC.
Euroclear Bank provides settlement and related securities services for cross-border transactions involving domestic and international bonds, equities, derivatives and investment funds. Serving major financial institutions located in more than 90 countries, Euroclear Bank, based in Brussels, is part of the Euroclear group. Euroclear Bank is rated AA+ by Fitch Ratings and AA by Standard & Poor’s.