AIFC to develop financial technologies market in Kazakhstan
The event was attended by Andrew Parmley, the Lord Mayor of London, and Kairat Kelimbetov, the Governor of the AIFC, as well as experts and representatives of business circles.
The forum participants discussed the impact of financial technologies on the development of Kazakhstan's financial industry. The forum provided a good opportunity for AIFC's leading experts, Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, EY, BlockEx to share their views on the latest developments and trends in financial and blockchain technologies.
The organizers noted that London's wide access to financial expertise and technical talents makes it the world's leading financial technical center. The UK's policy consists in supporting innovation, along with creation of favorable regulatory environment and government programs.
During the forum, they discussed the issues on regulation of financial technologies, cyber security, as well as opportunities afforded by new distributed ledger technologies.
Financial technologies are not only on top of all trends, but also profitable, judging by the data sounded in the forum. For instance, the current market capitalization of Alfa Financial Software, placed on the London Stock Exchange IPO in May, equals £1.2 billion, which makes it one of the largest companies among those placed on the IPO in UK this year. The world's largest IPO in the financial technology sphere has been Worldpay (the company's IPO attracted £2.48bn in October 2015).
As noted by Lord Mayor Andrew Parmley, the City of London can become an additional partner of Kazakhstan in developing financial technology.
According to Kairat Kelimbetov, the AIFC and Astana City Government will jointly develop the market of financial technologies in Kazakhstan, basing on the territory of Astana Expo after the exhibition ends. In addition, the experience of the City of London on exploring opportunities can be very well-timed.
Robert Hodgkinson, Executive Director, Technical at ICAEW, emphasized that financial technologies are changing the ways of access, management and protection of the financial world. "The pace of changes in the field of financial technology is unprecedented. The advantages and allied risks of this new world are what the global financial industry must learn to manage. The ICAEW and many of our partners in the UK are ready to share their experience with foreign colleagues," he said.
Recall, development of financial technologies is one of the priorities of the AIFC. The main target is to create the most favorable conditions for the development of financial technology projects, such as modern infrastructure, flexible regulation and attraction of strategic investors.
