Yulia Yakupbaeva: ESG is an important part of the transformation of the financial sector

On November 15, the Twelfth Congress of Financiers was held in Almaty, organized by the AFC, the National Bank and the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market. The traditional annual meeting of Kazakh financial market professionals was devoted to the topic of liberalization and development of the financial sector.

The topic for discussion at the third panel session was the ESG agenda in the financial sector, where the speakers shared their observations, expectations and forecasts on the practical implementation of the principles of sustainable development in the regulatory framework of the Kazakh financial market.

One of the speakers of the third session was Yulia Yakupbaeva, Partner of the GPI Group, Chairman of the Council for Sustainable Development and ESG at the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, with the topic “Sustainable development: do we need new incentives?”.

“The Kazakh economy is very closely integrated with partner countries. And if our client investors demand that we fulfill the ESG agenda, we must adapt. On the other hand, the real sector of the economy should know the Rules of the game, from what year and in what form this or that regulation will be introduced for it. We are grateful to the Russian Federation for its transparency in its actions and we expect this from other regulators in the person of the Ministry of Finance, the MENR and the Ministry of Industry and Construction,” Yulia Yakupbaeva said.

Answering the question of what measures are needed to activate the ESG market, the speaker noted that it is important to accelerate the adoption of a social taxonomy to activate the issuance of securities for social projects. It is also important to introduce incentives for the “green” securities of large businesses (at least in a pilot mode). Yulia Yakupbaeva noted that the list of required documents for obtaining subsidies for green financing needs to be optimized. Today, it is excessively broad and almost impossible for SMEs to implement.

           For reference:

The Congress program included six sessions with the participation of the heads of the NBK, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation for Combating Corruption, the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, second-tier banks, insurance companies, professional securities market participants, microfinance organizations and independent experts.
         

            Speakers at the 3rd meeting were:

Madina Abylkasymova, President of the Russian Federation,

Adalat Abdumanapova is the Coordinator of the IFC Project on Corporate Governance of the World Bank in Europe and Central Asia.

Yulia Yakupbaeva – Chairman of the Council for Sustainable Development and ESG of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs “Atameken”, Partner of GPI,

Tatiana Te – Deputy Director of the Department for Work with Financial Institutions of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Ruslan Vladimirov is Chairman of the Management Board of Bank CenterCredit JSC,

Marat Alibayev is Chairman of the Management Board of Development Bank of Kazakhstan JSC.