Why AIFC
Kazakhstan
Why AIFC?
The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) is an integrated regulator that registers, authorizes and recognises all entities who carry financial or non-financial services activities. The AFSA seeks to facilitate business processes by maintaining the safety and soundness of the AIFC financial system and ensuring that financial markets in the AIFC are fair, efficient, and transparent. By granting licenses and regulating the activities of all banking and financial institutions within the Centre, AFSA plays a key role in making sure AIFC participants are doing business in a reliable environment of transparency and legitimacy.
Overall AIFC has adopted more than 80 Legal and Financial Rules and Regulation which regulate all aspects required for the continuous conduct of any business.
The AIFC Court and Arbitration Centre provide a common law court system based on the norms and principles of English law for the first time in Central Asia. They operate to the highest international standards to resolve civil and commercial disputes in the AIFC. They has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising out of the activities and operations of the AIFC and jurisdiction in the case of other disputes in which all parties agree to give the AIFC Court jurisdiction.
English is the official language of the Centre and is used in all areas of public relations regulated by the Centre, also AIFC Rules and Regulation including rules regulating fund management activity are drafted and adopted in the English language.
The AIFC Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD) of the AIFC specializes in preparing for international professional certifications using the best global practices in the field of continuous professional development, to expand human resources and create a pool of international-level professionals from local specialists to work in the AIFC eco-system and the open market. BCPD has already provided trainings for 12000 AIFC Reserve Pool members.
Until 1 January 2066 AIFC tax regime grants the following tax exemptions under the Constitutional Law on AIFC and the Kazakhstan Tax Code:
AIFC Participants carrying out regulated activities are exempt from: Corporate income tax, Value added tax, Property tax, Land tax.
Any individual and legal person is exempt from Kazakhstan individual / corporate income tax on the income in the form of:
Dividends and interest paid on securities listed on AIX;
Dividends paid on shares / participation interest of AIFC Participant;
Capital gains from sale of securities listed on AIX and shares / participation interest of AIFC Participants.
A favourable geographic location between eastern and western financial and business centres, the existence of alliances — such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) — and cooperation within China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have had a significant impact on the global role of Central Asia, which comprises the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) located within the City of Nur-Sultan (Astana) and determined as the area where the special legal regime in the financial sphere established by the Constitutional Statute of the Republic of Kazakhstan On the AIFC applies.
The AIFC territory occupies 1632 hectares and is set in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – ‘On determining the boundaries of the territory of the International Financial Center “Astana”, dated December 31, 2015, No. 161.
AIFC Expat Centre is a dedicated and specialized multifunctional institution, designated to foster the expedite integration of the foreign nationals into Kazakhstan society on a one-stop-shop basis. It provides foreign nationals with an access to an ample variety of government and socially oriented soft-landing services in English.
