The sense of progress and economic momentum in Kazakhstan is tangible and impossible to ignore. Speaking to Kazakhstan’s financial leaders, policymakers, and leaders in the leadup to the Astana Finance Days conference, I understand why. The government’s clear growth agenda, combined with bold steps to reform the nation’s capital market, is having a real, positive impact.
Throughout my time in Astana so far, the question has increasingly shifted from whether Kazakhstan can attract international capital, but what the country should do next to become a true global center.
Sallianne Taylor. Photo credit: Taylor’s personal archive.
The foundations are already in place. Kazakhstan is the largest economy in Central Asia and has a growing role as the bridge between major European and Asian markets. The country has spent recent years developing the financial infrastructure needed to open its market and connect domestic companies, investors, and global capital. The Astana International Financial Centre, with its English common law framework, and the Astana International Exchange have complemented the domestic market by providing an international platform for investment and cross-border issuance – drawing in over $21 billion in investment since 2018.
Technology is already part of Kazakhstan’s vision for what comes next. Speaking at a Bloomberg event in 2025, NBK Governor Timur Suleimenov highlighted the importance of financial technology as a major force for financial growth and the role of modern infrastructure in supporting the next stage of market development. Opening the market, however, is only the beginning. The next challenge is making it easier to participate in.
Looking around the world, Poland offers a useful lesson in what sustained market development can achieve. Its emergence as Central and Eastern Europe’s leading financial center was not the result of any single reform. Debt market digitization, regulation, international accessibility, trading and settlement infrastructure, liquidity and investor participation reinforced one another over time. In 2018, that cumulative development helped Poland become the first country from Central and Eastern Europe to be upgraded from emerging to developed-market status by FTSE Russell.
No two markets are the same. Kazakhstan is at a different stage in its economic journey and will follow its own path. But there are undoubtedly parallels to be drawn with Poland a decade ago: a market with growing international ambitions, strategically located, but still considerable scope to deepen participation and strengthen the infrastructure supporting its financial market.
Kazakhstan is already moving in this direction. The recent digitization of government services across the country and the presidential decree on digital assets show a clear direction in one asset class. Last week, authorities announced plans for a new capital-market development program aimed at creating a deeper, more liquid and diversified market and improving businesses’ access to long-term financing. Among the measures under consideration is a centralized securities-lending mechanism designed to improve liquidity in the secondary stock market.
The same focus on liquidity is relevant to Kazakhstan’s sovereign debt market. Authorities are seeking to broaden the investor base and increase appetite for Kazakh debt. Recent reforms to the primary dealer system are intended to bolster liquidity and pave the way for government securities to enter global indices, ultimately helping to reduce government borrowing costs.
Further development of the secondary market can reinforce that progress. A market works better when investors are not simply able to buy but assets but can trade them efficiently once they own them. More active secondary markets support effective price discovery and give investors greater confidence that they can enter and exit positions efficiently. Over time, stronger public markets can become more effective mechanisms for allocating capital across the economy.
As Kazakhstan itself has recognized, technology can help deliver this next stage of development. Electronic trading, integrated data and analytics, pricing systems and modern market infrastructure can reduce friction and make it easier for market participants to transact with confidence. Efforts to digitalize securities issuance, modernize settlement processes and connect its markets more closely with global infrastructure are already moving this agenda forward. As markets become more sophisticated and internationally connected, the infrastructure supporting them needs to evolve as well.
We have seen first-hand the impact that this infrastructure development can have in other emerging markets. In Georgia, Bloomberg worked with the National Bank to introduce electronic trading for the country’s repo market. By integrating trading systems with Bloomberg’s data, analytics and market-surveillance capabilities, interbank transactions became more automated and ultimately more efficient. Similar partnerships with central banks and financial institutions around the world show how modern financial infrastructure and technology can complement wider capital-market reforms and support greater participation.
Kazakhstan has already built much of the foundation and opened its doors further to international investors. The strength and international connectivity of the markets will determine how fully Kazakhstan can capitalize on the opportunity. Get that next stage right, and it will be better placed not only to attract global capital, but to put it to work across its economy.
The author is Sallianne Taylor, the Head of Government Relations for Europe and Central Asia at Bloomberg LP.
