Institutional Development and the Astana International Financial Centre

The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) was launched on 1 January 2018. It is envisaged that the AIFC will create an attractive environment for various financial activities. To accomplish this goal, one major feature of the AIFC is that it will operate an independent legal regime based on the Common Law to regulate the legal relationships between market participants. This feature sits well with the belief under the law and finance scholarship that legal institution is essential in financial development, and the Common Law systems are capable of providing superior investor protection. The core structures of this independent regime include the establishment of the Astana Financial Services Authority as the competent regulator. Also, the AIFC Court, independent in their activity and separate from the judicial system of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is established. The AIFC Court have an exclusive jurisdiction in relation to hearing and adjudicating on any disputes between market participants within the AIFC. It is also expected that the Astana International Arbitration Centre will supplement the role of the AIFC Court to provide an alternative dispute settlement solution. This contribution seeks to explore how these institutional arrangements, believed to have drawn on a Dubai model, will serve to support the development of the AIFC.