The recently appointed National Bank of Kazakhstan governor, Kairat Kelimbetov, tells Philip Alexander that he is focused on stepping up the quality of corporate governance in the country's banking sector and financial markets.

Led by innovative deals from development banks, Kazakh bond markets are enjoying a dynamic spell, but pension reform casts uncertainty over the equity markets.

After leading Morgan Stanley’s equities business outside the Americas, John Hyman is working to position Renaissance Capital as a focused player in a number of very different markets across emerging Europe and Africa.

Closer economic integration of countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States has been discussed for many years without practical progress. The launch of a Single Economic Space between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus may be about to change that.

A deluge of non-performing loans and deleveraging paint a bleak picture of Kazakhstan’s banking sector. But it is against this backdrop that smaller, second-tier banks, which follow much less aggressive strategies and are therefore in much healthier positions, can excel.

A promotion for the former head of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund suggests there is momentum behind ambitious privatisation plans in the country that could transform the local capital markets. 

Sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna became the main vehicle for the Kazakh government to rescue a distressed banking sector and ailing economy. Its CEO, Kairat Kelimbetov, explains the fund's next steps. Writer Philip Alexander