Banking and Finance
Banking legislation in Kazakhstan is still in the development stage, it is therefore not rare when mandatory regulations or resolutions of the National Bank of Kazakhstan are often applied even if not published or issued just as verbal instructions. Banking sector in Kazakhstan is governed by a substantial number of statutory laws and legislative acts. Most of the regulations in the banking sector including those governing activities of commercial banks are issued by the National Bank of Kazakhstan. There are following basic laws in Kazakhstan, which govern the banking and finance sector: the Law “On National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan”; the Law “On banks and banking activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan”; the Law “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control”; the Law “On Private Banking and Financial Institutions and Guaranties of Their Activity” and the Law “About Payments and Payment Systems”.
The Kazakhstan legislation makes deference between regulation of the foreign currency and local currency (Kazakhstan tenge) circulation in Kazakhstan.
According to Law “On Banks and Banking Activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan”, accepting of deposits for further lending and investing thereof as well as transferring of monies is referred to the banking activity, which requires obtaining of the license for banking activity from the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
Bank cards in Kazakhstan shall be issued only by the Kazakhstan Resident banks. It is provided that the Kazakhstan banks are entitled to enter into the foreign and international settlement organizations and payment systems.
According to Kazakhstan Law “On Foreign Currency”, all foreign currency transactions are divided into (i) current (everyday) international transactions, which shall be performed without limitations, and (ii) currency transactions involving movement of capital, most of which are subject to restrictions, approvals and permissions of the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan has joined the two New York international treatments on prevention of money laundering. There is Kazakhstan Law “On the resistance to legalization of incomes received from criminal activity and financing of terrorism”.
We help you gain a clear understanding of the regulation of financial services in Kazakhstan.
Our law firm offers the following services in the sphere of Banking and Finance:
- advising private sector clients on a wide range of matters arising from the foreign lending and borrowing, project financing and introduction of new banking instruments;
- handling regulatory matters in the National Bank of Kazakhstan, including registration and licensing of resident banks;
- representation corporate clients in front of banks in course of lending and project financing to help with anything from negotiations to assistance with confirmation of Condition and Subsequent Precedents;
- verifying of external borrowing contracts in respect to their correspondence to the mandatory regulations of the Kazakhstan legislation, including as regard to requirements of the National Bank of Kazakhstan;
- registration of the currency transactions involving movement of capital with the National Bank of Kazakhstan;
- consulting on various legal issues related to project financing and foreign currency international transactions.