Creation Of Astana International Financial Centre

Following the decree of the President of Kazakhstan issued in May of this year, a draft constitutional law (the Bill) has been presented for consideration to the lower house of parliament, taking the creation of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) a step closer to reality.

The Bill sets out the objectives of the AIFC, which will be to promote investment, develop the markets in banking, insurance and Islamic finance, develop the securities market in Kazakhstan and to develop financial and professional services in accordance with best international practice, leading to the recognition of Astana as an international financial centre.

The AIFC will constitute a financial 'free zone' within a physical area to be delineated in future. It is expected that eventually the Centre will be located on the site currently being developed to house Expo2017. Participants in the Centre will be entitled to benefit from exemptions from corporate and individual income tax, and from a relaxed visa and work permitting regime for their senior employees. The Centre will have its own legal system in certain areas, which will, according to the Bill, be based on the principles and rules of English law and/or the standards of leading global financial centres. It is expected that the system of laws which are to be developed over the next two years will bear quite some similarity to the system introduced in the Dubai International Financial Centre, in which separate laws governing, inter alia, civil law relations with and between participants of the Centre, the formation, governance and registration of companies, financial services, employment relations, to name a few, provide a system separate from national law.

The Centre will have its own two-tier court system to...