Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan – 33^rd Annual conference of the Group of Banking Supervisors from Central and Eastern Europe has started virtually under the chairmanship of the Astana Financial Services Authority.

Kazakhstan is hosting the conference of the Group of Banking Supervisors from Central and Eastern Europe (BSCEE) for the first time. The event will take place on 27-28 May 2021 and is organised by the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), a regulator for the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).

Mukhtar Bubeyev, Chief Executive Officer of AFSA and Chairman of the BSCEE and Fernando Restoy, Chair of Financial Stability Institute of the Bank of International Settlements delivered opening remarks. The event is attended by the top managers of central banks and banking supervisory authorities from 25 countries of the Central and Eastern Europe, as well as representatives of the International Monetary Fund, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, European Central Bank and Financial Stability Institute of the Bank of International Settlements.

Mukhtar Bubeyev, CEO of AFSA commented: “This year we are chairing the BSCEE and for the first time in Kazakhstan we are hosting the Annual Conference of the Group. Supervisory priorities in the post-pandemic period, development of technological solutions in the field of supervision, acceleration of digitalization, as well as the current situation in the national banking sectors are the topics planned to be discussed at the event”. 

The BSCEE was established in 1991. The objectives of the regional group are to encourage and maintain close cooperation and communication between its members, serve as a high-level platform for technical discussions, exchange best practices, data and innovative decisions among banking regulators and represent the Central and Eastern European region in a dialogue with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

BSCEE consists of banking supervisors from Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan (AIFC), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in supervision of alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) under the EU’s AIFM directive. This MoU sets the framework conditions for AIFC fund managers to market and manage alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds to professional investors in Malta, as well as for Malta to manage or market alternative investment funds in the AIFC.

In view of growing globalization of the world’s financial markets and the increase in cross-border operations and activities of managers of alternative investment funds formalization of cooperation between AFSA and MFSA will allow mutual assistance in the supervision of Managers of alternative investment funds, their delegates and depositaries that operate on a cross-border basis. Through the MoU, supervisory authorities expressed their willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates, particularly in the areas of investor protection, fostering market and financial integrity, and maintaining confidence and financial stability.

Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and Hellenic Capital Market Commission of Greece (HCMC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in supervision of alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) under the EU’s AIFM directive. This MoU sets the framework conditions for AIFC fund managers to market and manage alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds to professional investors in Greece, as well as for Greece to manage or market alternative investment funds in the AIFC.

In view of growing globalization of the world’s financial markets and the increase in cross-border operations and activities of managers of alternative investment funds formalization of cooperation between AFSA and HCMC will allow mutual assistance in the supervision of Managers of alternative investment funds, their delegates and depositaries that operate on a cross-border basis. Through the MoU, supervisory authorities expressed their willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates, particularly in the areas of investor protection, fostering market and financial integrity, and maintaining confidence and financial stability.

Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and Financial Supervision Commission of Bulgaria (FSC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in supervision of alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) under the EU’s AIFM directive. This MoU sets the framework conditions for AIFC fund managers to market and manage alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds to professional investors in Bulgaria, as well as for Bulgaria to manage or market alternative investment funds in the AIFC.

In view of growing globalization of the world’s financial markets and the increase in cross-border operations and activities of managers of alternative investment funds formalization of cooperation between AFSA and FSC will allow mutual assistance in the supervision of Managers of alternative investment funds, their delegates and depositaries that operate on a cross-border basis. Through the MoU, supervisory authorities expressed their willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates, particularly in the areas of investor protection, fostering market and financial integrity, and maintaining confidence and financial stability.

Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and Financial Market Authority of Austria (FMA Austria) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in supervision of alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) under the EU’s AIFM directive. This MoU sets the framework conditions for AIFC fund managers to market and manage alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds to professional investors in Austria, as well as for Austria to manage or market alternative investment funds in the AIFC.

In view of growing globalization of the world’s financial markets and the increase in cross-border operations and activities of managers of alternative investment funds formalization of cooperation between AFSA and FMA Austria will allow mutual assistance in the supervision of Managers of alternative investment funds, their delegates and depositaries that operate on a cross-border basis. Through the MoU, supervisory authorities expressed their willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates, particularly in the areas of investor protection, fostering market and financial integrity, and maintaining confidence and financial stability.

Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in supervision of alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) under the EU’s AIFM directive. This MoU sets the framework conditions for AIFC fund managers to market and manage alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds to professional investors in Poland, as well as for Poland to manage or market alternative investment funds in the AIFC.

In view of growing globalization of the world’s financial markets and the increase in cross-border operations and activities of managers of alternative investment funds formalization of cooperation between AFSA and KNF will allow mutual assistance in the supervision of Managers of alternative investment funds, their delegates and depositaries that operate on a cross-border basis. Through the MoU, supervisory authorities expressed their willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates, particularly in the areas of investor protection, fostering market and financial integrity, and maintaining confidence and financial stability.

Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and Financial Market Authority of Liechtenstein (FMA Liechtenstein) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in supervision of alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) under the EU’s AIFM directive. This MoU sets the framework conditions for AIFC fund managers to market and manage alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds to professional investors in Liechtenstein, as well as for Liechtenstein to manage or market alternative investment funds in the AIFC.

In view of growing globalization of the world’s financial markets and the increase in cross-border operations and activities of managers of alternative investment funds formalization of cooperation between AFSA and FMA Lichtenstein will allow mutual assistance in the supervision of Managers of alternative investment funds, their delegates and depositaries that operate on a cross-border basis. Through the MoU, supervisory authorities expressed their willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates, particularly in the areas of investor protection, fostering market and financial integrity, and maintaining confidence and financial stability.

Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) resumed its capacity building webinars for AIFC Participants devoted to enhancing understanding of practical aspects of registration and authorisation by AFSA. First training event of this year “How to register online via Digital Resident Portal” was held on 26 March 2021 for law firms. The event covered functioning of the Digital Resident Portal’s following aspects:

• Registration of Private company;
• FinTechLab In-principle approval;
• Ancillary services in-principle approval.

More than 40 participants attended the session. Recording of the webinar is available below.

{video}

The event was devoted to the online application through Digital Resident platform. Main requirements and application process for registration, FinTech Lab pre-application and application stages. The webinar also focused on types of Ancillary Service Providers (ASPs) and relevant legislation (GEN, AML, COB, AUD) and supporting documents to prepare prior to applying for in-principle approval.

Three more quarterly webinars are planned for 2021 and will be announced in due course.

Persons interested in providing feedback on functioning of the Digitalresident.kz portal may complete a short survey by clicking the link.

For questions and requests you can write to [email protected]

Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in supervision of alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) under the EU’s AIFM directive. This MoU sets the framework conditions for AIFC fund managers to market and manage alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds to professional investors in Denmark, as well as for Denmark to manage or market alternative investment funds in the AIFC.

In view of growing globalization of the world’s financial markets and the increase in cross-border operations and activities of managers of alternative investment funds formalization of cooperation between AFSA and Finanstilsynet will allow mutual assistance in the supervision of Managers of alternative investment funds, their delegates and depositaries that operate on a cross-border basis. Through the MoU, supervisory authorities expressed their willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates, particularly in the areas of investor protection, fostering market and financial integrity, and maintaining confidence and financial stability.