Seeking Belt buckle role, Kazakhstan launches

China-backed financial hubAg ReutersASTANA: Seeking to attract more foreign investment from its prime position in China´s huge Belt and Road trade project, Kazakhstan launched a new financial hub on Thursday which has already secured the backing of its giant neighbour.The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), a self-styled “mid-shore” special economic zone, hopes to attract players ranging from Chinese state funds to Swiss private banks by offering tax breaks, easy entry and a Common Law court. The move is part of Kazakhstan´s ambition to become a Luxembourg-style intermediary between larger nations and a gateway for foreign investment across Central Asia.However, it might take months before securities trading actually opens in Astana, and when it does, it will split the oil-rich nation´s already minuscule liquidity pool between two stock exchanges. Modelled on the Dubai International Financial Centre, AIFC wants to host all sorts of market players: family offices, private banks, brokers, asset managers, Islamic finance institutions and fintech companies.Unlike DIFC though, AIFC will not require that its members maintain physical presence in the windswept Kazakh capital where temperatures range from -40 to +40 Celsius (-40 to 104 Fahrenheit). It will also charge much lower fees than the established hubs and offer 50-year tax breaks.Like DIFC, the Astana hub will employ its own court and arbitration centre staffed with British judges and barristers. In fact, it hopes that its dispute resolution services will be used even by outside companies such as regular Kazakh businesses which often complain about ordinary courts´ lack of independence and integrity. An even greater ambition is to serve as an arbitration centre for contracts between Chinese and Russian companies, AIFC employees say. Some foreign investors have enquired about the possibility of using AIFC as a platform to invest in Uzbekistan.

from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2zoUMsP