Kairat Kelimbetov assumed the role of governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) in complicated circumstances. His high-profile predecessor, Grigory Marchenko, resigned from the post well ahead of his planned retirement date, after publicly criticising proposed government reforms of the Kazakh pension system. However, Mr Kelimbetov is no stranger to crisis. He was deputy head of the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna in 2009 when the fund was called in to bail out several of the country’s largest banks, amid a real estate crash and two instances of large-scale fraud at BTA Bank and Alliance Bank. Today, he sees his move to the NBK, after spells as Kazakhstan's economy minister and deputy prime minister, as a chance to complete the circle.
“In 2009 at Samruk-Kazyna, it was about fire-fighting in the banking sector. Now, I have a better opportunity to think strategically, to finish the work we started then by rebuilding the model for the banking sector and for financial regulation,” Mr Kelimbetov tells The Banker.