Associate, Fund Operations Department
Not like all the rest
After graduating from university in Manchester, I decided to return to Kazakhstan to put into practice what I’d learnt and be of use to my country. I began working in the retail department of a local bank. It just so happened to be when the AIFC project was being launched, and my acquaintances working in the financial sector were talking a lot about it and discussing its potential, so I began to collect information on it. I became interested because it is regulated by English common law, which was one of the disciplines I had studied at university. After an interview, I began in the exchange project office – back then the AIX did not exist as a company. It was a real start-up, the 10-15 people working there were starting everything from scratch. We drafted the business processes, rules and principles the exchange still uses in its daily operations. It was a unique and very inspiring experience, especially for a young professional seeing the company he or she is working for grows together with you.
A major and time-consuming project we worked on was the introduction of the trading system – an electronic trading platform that by brokers and issuers could use to list securities and trade. At the start, we were looking for the most appropriate trading system, began testing it and then customised it. We quickly understood that the Nasdaq trading system really was the best option available, and now we have the opportunity to share our experience of launching it with representatives of other exchanges.
AIX doesn’t have the excess bureaucracy you find in a lot of state and even private companies in Kazakhstan. When we were developing AIX business processes, we tried to follow best global practices and implement a progressive approach, and this is the reason AIX is a flexible company open to new ideas and capable of reacting quickly to external challenges and tracking global trends.
I enjoy versatility and multitasking, and when I was at AIX I dealt with all areas of the capital markets and exchange sectors, and that helped me expand my knowledge of the finance sector no end. It also helped me grow as a professional. My focus is now on retail investors and the Tabys mobile application, which allows even novices new to the investment world to trade in exchange securities.
I’m sure that AIX has a great future. Statistics around the number of securities listed, the quantity of local and overseas brokers trading on our exchange, and the growing trade volume truly speak for themselves.
From my own experience, I can safely say that the most important skill to have, apart from professional competence, is being quick on the uptake. Nowadays, it’s not only experience that’s important, but also an ability to learn quickly. When we launch new projects, we have to find ways to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that are almost bound to come up. And an ability to find solutions quickly is invaluable. I think this is the main ingredient for success.