Over 2,000 Kazakh professionals to join AIFC

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ASTANA. KAZINFORM More than 2,000 local specialists will work in Kazakh and foreign companies related to the Astana International Financial Center, the Head of the Continuous Professional Development Bureau of the AIFC, Yernur Rysmagambetov, told Kazinform correspondent.

"International and local companies will come to the AIFC. 3,000 to 5,000 people are expected to work in the AIFC ecosystem for 3-5 years. Our bureau was established in March this year. We train local professionals who, we hope, will be able to blend into the ecosystem and, using English and dealing with their dedicated areas, work in foreign companies. These are the employees of banks, quasi-public sector, brokerage companies and so on. Our aim is to give further training to 2,000 local specialists in compliance with the international standards. Now, we are making up professional programs (short and long ones) so that the specialists could go through them and gain relevant knowledge and international certification," Yernur Rysmagambetov said.

According to him, both international and local specialists should work in the AIFC structure because the competitiveness would worsen if there are foreign human resources only. As an example, the expert mentioned the Dubai International Financial Center, which serves as a model for the AIFC.

The Bureau is confident in the professionalism of the local specialists. "Why are we sure about that? Because a lot of professionals leaving for London or New York, in principle, get accustomed very well, work and advance in office. In fact, in Kazakhstan, the staff potential is not bad at all. Perhaps, they have never worked in foreign companies, but they have quite a sound experience in the financial sector," he explained.

As Yernur Rysmagambetov said, the training of specialists has already begun in March this year. Besides, the ‘students' gain professional knowledge on the job, in the evening or at weekends. Depending on the motivation and preference to acquire knowledge, they can complete the course sooner or later. As a result, they pass the international exam and receive a certificate.

"For now, we have set out 16 areas for development, such as Investment Management, Islamic Financing, Financial Technology, Accounting and Auditing, Risk Management, etc. We suppose that they will have a great demand among the participating companies of the AIFC. We are making up professional programs for each of the areas. We have already launched and tested 2 of 16 programs related to Investment Management, as well as Accounting and Auditing. 45 people have completed our courses and continue studying, that is, our training is based on the stage-by-stage and sequence approach. Another 60 people have been enrolled. Thus, at the moment, we are training 100 people in Almaty and Astana. I would like to note that two more programs, on Islamic Financing and Financial Technologies, are under development. By yearend, we plan to launch two more programs - on Risk Management and Human Capital Management. That is, we intend to launch 6 programs this year and the other 10 next year. For each of the programs we want to retrain and upgrade the skills of 100-200 professionals, which will give us over 2,000 professionals in total," the expert said.

Yernur Rysmagambetov emphasized that it will be companies that will recruit the employees. "Our bureau has various centers, including a career center, which helps our students in career planning and employment, and all our students get the career reserve status. As soon as the financial center starts operating to the full extent and the employer companies appear in the AIFC, we will offer them to employ the people from this career reserve," Yermur Rysmagambetov summarized.

Earlier, Kazinform reported that the international presentation of the Astana International Financial Centre will be held this December. For the first time in the CIS, the AIFC will be guided by principles, norms, and precedents of England and Wales' law and standards of the leading international financial centers (in London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and more). The AIFC's mission is to create a world-class financial services center, attract investment into Kazakhstan's economy by creating a favorable environment for investors, develop securities market and ensure its integration in international capital markets.

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