BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 22
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Monthly trading volume at Astana International Exchange (AIX) in November 2020 is six times more than the same month in 2019, i.e. the monthly trading increased to $3.7 million, versus $659,000 during the same month last year, Trend reports citing AIX.
The AIX said that in 2020, global capital markets have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic recession. Despite this, the appetite of international investors for Kazakhstan and Central Asia remained high throughout the year due to the decline in interest rates and the emergence of promising private companies ready to raise capital in foreign currency.
Thus, since 2018 to date the AIX Issuers raised over $321 million of equity capital ($104.7 million in 2020), $8.6 billion of debt capital was listed on the AIX ($3.7 billion in 2020).
In 2020 AIX welcomed new trading members who brought their expertise and strong investor relationships for the benefit of Kazakhstan’s capital market. Among them: Sova Capital which provides a full range of investment banking services to institutional and corporate clients interested in investing in Emerging Markets including CIS countries; UK-based international financial services company ITI Capital; the leading Russian international investment bank VTB Capital has become a trading member of AIX.
This year, AIX also launched four new exchange-traded notes (ETNs) in order to provide local retail investors with a broader range of investment options.
There are now 9 ETNs listed which track various benchmark indexes, such as high yield US corporate bonds and high dividend companies. All of them can be traded not only via brokers but also via Tabys mobile application.
The AIX has become the first exchange in the world which migrated its core trading infrastructure—the Nasdaq matching engine—onto Amazon Web Services (AWS). This transition enables AIX to enhance the performance of its trading services while delivering agility and scalability to its investor community. It also gives AIX flexibility to launch new products and services faster and more cost-efficiently for its securities market.
In July 2020, the AIX launched the Regional Equity Market Segment (REMS) to provide medium-sized businesses in Kazakhstan and Central Asia with better access to equity financing.
AIX has simplified the regulatory regime for companies with a free-float market capitalization not exceeding $200 million and to allow a simplified prospectus based on one-year financials with no requirement to demonstrate a revenue-earning track record.
In 2020 Thomas Murray, the global post-trade risk and custody specialists, assigned Astana International Exchange Central Securities Depository (AIX CSD) an overall risk assessment of ‘A’, which denotes a ‘Low Risk’.
Raiffeisenbank has become a Participant of the AIX CSD, thereby allowing international institutional investors to hold their assets at the AIX CSD under the bank’s custody.
Also, the AIX CSD opened a foreign nominee account with the Russian National Settlement Depository (NSD).
AIX was formed in 2017 within the Astana International Financial Centre development framework. AIX shareholders are AIFC, Goldman Sachs, the Shanghai stock exchange, the Silk Road Fund, and NASDAQ, which also provides the AIX trading platform.
The exchange operates within a regulatory environment based on the principles of English Law, thus providing a reliable investment environment. The mission of AIX is to develop an active capital market in Kazakhstan and the region by providing clear and favorable conditions for attracting financing to private and public businesses. AIX develops special segments for mining companies as well as infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road initiative.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @nargiz_sadikh