ITS to launch international securities trading

On June 7, 2023, the International Trading System (ITS) offered to trading a total of 1570 top securities* of the global financial market. The market opened at 11:00 am Astana time.

ITS conducts trading in shares and depositary receipts from major global exchanges (NYSE and NASDAQ). Trading and settlements take place in US dollars (USD), same as the currency of original foreign exchanges. Brokers accredited on ITS provide conversion of tenge into USD.

Securities traded on ITS are included in the world's largest indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq-100, S&P 500, and represent 69 subindustries of the global economy.

“We welcome the launch of the ITS trading platform in AIFC’ jurisdiction,” said Renat Bekturov, Governor of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). ITS is the first company to obtain a Multilateral Trading Facility license from the AIFC Financial Services Regulatory Committee. The platform will provide retail investors from all over the world with access to the global securitis market. Extended trading hours are one of the key features of ITS. Investors benefit from a unique opportunity to trade at the time when Asian, European, and US stock exchanges are closed. With the launch of ITS we expect that AIFC jurisdiction will host the earliest premarket for foreign securities globally. Trading on ITS will contribute to the growth of retail investment in Kazakhstan and will become an important element in the successful development of the overall AIFC ecosystem and the country's financial market.”

Chingiz Kanapyanov, ITS Senior Executive Officer, noted: “ITS strategic mission is to provide investors with maximum investment opportunities through the access to a wide range of global securities, using innovative trading and liquidity technologies for Kazakhstan. We expect that the launch of ITS will increase retail demand for local securities, partly owing to the entry of investors from Asian countries into the market.”

ITS has a 16-hour trading session, from 11:00 am to 03:00 am of the next day, Astana time. This gives investors more trading opportunities in terms of decision making and reaction speed to corporate and global economic events. Trades are settled on the second day following the trade date (T+2). ITS trading calendar is synchronized with the trading calendars of the NYSE, NASDAQ and HKEX exchanges.

The ITS business model uses smart order routing (SOR) technology to provide unlimited liquidity and best execution to ensure the most favorable options to execute clients' orders. 

ITS' direct clients are the largest Kazakhstan’s professional market participants - financial intermediaries, both accredited and directly registered with the AIFC. Investors - individuals and legal entities - can access to trading on ITS through Kazakhstani brokers and banks. ITS expects about 15 professional market participants to join ITS market within 6 months after the start of trading.

Retail investors will have access to trading on ITS after the brokers complete the setup.

ITS has been established and will operate in accordance with the laws and regulations of AIFC. On June 1, AIFC issued a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) license to ITS.

“AIFC has created favorable conditions for launching a trading platform: infrastructure, client identification system, access for participants from different countries, statutory regulation. ITS will provide Kazakhstani brokers with new opportunities for developing cross-border business by attracting financial intermediaries and investors from Asian countries. This will increase the liquidity of the national financial market and stimulate demand for all securities available in Kazakhstan,” commented Chingiz Kanapyanov, ITS Senior Executive Officer.

ITS intends to create a line of own market indices measuring segments of Kazakhstan and US stock markets. The launch of the first own ITS index is planned within three months after the start of trading.

Examples of securities available on ITS:

• Shares Tesla, NVIDIA, Apple, Coinbase Global, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Carnival, Moderna, Qualcomm, MicroStrategy, Virgin Galactic, Block and others.
• American Depository Receipts for representing shares of companies from different countries: UK (AstraZeneca, Endava, Rio Tinto, Shell), Switzerland (Novartis), Finland (Nokia), Germany (BioNTech, SAP), Brazil (Nubank), Belgium (Anheuser-Busch InBev), India (Dr. Reddy's Laboratories), Japan (Sony Group, Toyota Motor, Takeda Pharmaceutical), South Korea (LG Display, SK Telecom, Korea Electric Power), Brazil (Vale, Natura & Co) and others.

 

About ITS  

ITS is an international liquidity hub that intended to provide investors from Kazakhstan and other countries with access to thousands of investment products of the global financial market.

Smart order routing (SOR) technology is designed to use additional liquidity from international platforms for order execution in any volume.

The use of best execution ensures the execution of customers' trades at the most favorable terms available on leading global stock exchanges.

 

*ITS admits to trading only those financial instruments which constitute Qualified Investments (QI) in the meaning of the AIFC Regulations and Rules. Shares, depository receipts, bonds, ETFs and other financial instruments may be recognized as QI.