Astana Times, 30 March 2017 

Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) has partnered with Vantage Financial Centres (VFC), an  exclusive  association  of  international  financial  centres.  The  partnership  will  grant  AIFC  the privileges of the association and is to boost its profile internationally. The  association  includes  such  well-known  international  financial  centres  as  Tokyo,  Toronto, Shanghai, Beijing and Abu Dhabi. Members of the VFC receive consulting support and assessments of their activities from other members of the association. Also, all the centres can take an active part in international high level events which are used for the exchange of experience and expert opinions on increasing the competitiveness of financial centres.

Joining the association is a timely step towards the establishment and development of the Kazakh centre, the press service of the AIFC reports. Members  of  the  VFC  have  created  Global  Financial  Centres  Index  (GFCI)  since  2007,  which  is based on more than 29,000 evaluations of financial centres from the online questionnaire. The index also  takes  into  account  more  than  100  indicators  of  organisations,  such  as  the  World  Bank,  the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and reflects the competitiveness of financial centres.

The ranking examines five key areas: business environment, infrastructure factors, financial sector development, reputation and general factors, and human capital. The  AIFC  aims  to  create  favourable  conditions  for  investment  and  finance  and  to  develop  the securities market, ensuring its integration with international capital markets. The AIFC also intends to  develop  insurance, banking and  Islamic finance markets  in  Kazakhstan. The centre provides a special  legal  regime  based  on  the  principles  of  English  law,  independent  financial  regulation  in accordance with international standards, tax preferences for a period of 50 years, simplified visa and labour conditions and English as an official language in the territory of the AIFC.

The AIFC seeks to become a financial hub for the Central Asian region, member states of the EAEU, the Caucasus, Western China, the Middle East, Mongolia and Europe. It is planned that the centre will  be  located  within  EXPO  2017  and  supported  by  modern  infrastructure  and  cutting-edge technologies.