ASTANA – The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) attracted $2.6 billion in investments in the first half of 2025, bringing its total investment volume to more than $16.9 billion, reported the AIFC’s press service on July 28.
Photo credit: AIFC
During the same period, 567 new companies joined the AIFC ecosystem, including four fintech firms, five Ancillary Service Providers, and seven companies with financial licenses. The total number of registered participants now stands at 4,030, representing 85 countries.
AIFC Governor Renat Bekturov said entrepreneurs worldwide are increasingly choosing the AIFC to establish and expand their businesses. He cited the wave of new company registrations, the redomiciliation of a significant holding, and fresh listings on the Astana International Exchange (AIX) as proof of growing interest.
Participants contributed over 70 billion tenge (US$128 million) to the state budget in the first quarter, according to preliminary data.
AIX trading turnover reached $729 million in the first six months of 2025, up 3.2% from the same period in 2024. The number of new listings nearly doubled, with 86 new securities listed between January and June. A total of 301 securities from 165 issuers are now listed on the exchange. Capital raised on AIX reached $8.9 billion since its launch, including $1.9 billion in the first half of 2025.
The exchange now includes 56 trading members from Kazakhstan, China, Europe, and the Middle East. Five joined in 2025. Ten global custodians hold sub-accounts with the AIX Central Securities Depository, which has registered more than 2.2 million retail investor accounts.
AIX became one of only nine exchanges globally accredited to trade International Renewable Energy Certificates (I-REC). The first trade was completed between Samruk-Green Energy and UK-based Valor Carbon. In June, Bank CenterCredit became the first Kazakh bank to purchase I-REC certificates through the AIX.
In April, the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) adopted new rules on money service providers to align with global fintech standards. The regulation expands coverage of monetary services, introduces new digital asset models, and enhances client protection and cybersecurity.
AFSA also joined the I-SCAN initiative under IOSCO, a global information-sharing network for securities regulators. It issued Kazakhstan’s first license for fiat-backed stablecoins to AnchorX.KZ Limited, enabling it to operate as a regulated digital payment provider.
In May, the Aktobe Social-Entrepreneurship Corporation received a Second-Party Opinion from the AIFC Green Finance Centre for its upcoming social bond—the first ESG-themed bond to be issued by a social enterprise in Kazakhstan.
By June, the AIFC Court and International Arbitration Centre had resolved 3,961 cases, comprising 189 court judgments, 3,772 arbitration awards, and 1,800 mediated agreements. Cases covered construction contracts, PPP projects, finance, real estate and more. Investors from 34 countries have used the court, which now includes 789 registered lawyers from 39 jurisdictions.
