Recently during a meeting of Accumulative Pension Fund (APF) UlarUmit shareholders a decision on Fund equity capital increase from 440 million tenge to 4.84 billion tenge was made. This means a ten-fold increase. Our first interview question to Gulnara Alimgazieva, chairman of fund management board is focused on that fact.

For Kazakhstan pension funds it is an unheard-of proportions increase. What was the reason for this move?

Decision on a ten-fold increase in Fund equity capital was adopted in order to strengthen the financial stability and competitiveness of the Fund.

Norms of pension funds increasing equity capital are established by Kazakh Law “On the introduction of amendments and additions to some of the legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan concerning the issues of collective investment and activity of APFs”, which was adopted on October 29th by Kazakh Parliament. Right now it is being considered by Kazakh President. According to legislative requirements APF ownership capital must be equal to no less than 2 billion tenge. Recapitalization of funds is necessary for compliance with Law “On pension provision in Kazakhstan”. According to it, pension funds are obligated to compensate the difference between earnings yield for 5-year period and established weighted-average earnings yield using their own capital at the end of each year.