Baydeldinova T.A.
PhD doctoral student
of customs, fiscal and environmental law
Al - Farabi K
azakh National University

 

General review of compliance control in banks of the Republic of Kazakhstan

 

The activity of second-tier banks in the Republic of Kazakhstan is carried out on the basis and in accordance with the requirements of the Law "On Banks and Banking Activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan" and other legislation. Thus, in Kazakhstan it is allowed to establish banks whose shareholders are non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to the Law, the bank with foreign participation is a second-tier bank, more than one-third of the placed shares of which are owned, owned and / or managed:

a)     non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

b)    legal entities - residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan, more than one third of the placed shares or stakes in the authorized capitals of which are in the possession, ownership and / or management of non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan or similar legal entities resident in the Republic of Kazakhstan;

c)     Residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan who are agents of funds (trusted persons) of non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan or legal entities specified in subparagraph

          There are a number of additional features for banks with foreign participation in the creation, obtaining permission to create a bank, to obtain a license to conduct banking activities, but in this article we will touch upon the features, differences in the compliance function that are present in every bank of the country, including number of banks with foreign participation. The activity of second-tier banks in the Republic of Kazakhstan is carried out on the basis and in accordance with the requirements of the Law "On Banks and Banking Activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan" and other legislation. Thus, in Kazakhstan it is allowed to establish banks whose shareholders are non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to the Law, the bank with foreign participation is a second-tier bank, more than one-third of the placed shares of which are owned, owned and / or managed:

a)     non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

b)    legal entities - residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan, more than one third of the placed shares or stakes in the authorized capitals of which are in the possession, ownership and / or management of non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan or similar legal entities resident in the Republic of Kazakhstan;

c)     Residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan who are agents of funds (trusted persons) of non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan or legal entities specified in subparagraph.

       There are a number of additional features for banks with foreign participation in the creation, obtaining permission to create a bank, to obtain a license to conduct banking activities, but in this article we will touch upon the features, differences in the compliance function that are present in every bank of the country, including number of banks with foreign participation.

Compliance is the action according to the request or indication; obedience (English compliance is an action in accordance with a request or command, obedience). Compliance is compliance with any internal or external requirements or standards. [1]

In foreign countries, there was an understanding about the need for compliance and compliance functions in the bank long before the introduction of this institution in Kazakhstan. For example, compliance in the world practice began to acquire after writing the Basel principles on compliance control, as well as a push in the development received after the law "The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX)" (USA). It should also be noted that compliance control in the banking sector of Kazakhstan officially appeared only in 2006 after the introduction of the Instruction on the requirements for the availability of risk management and internal control systems in second-tier banks approved by the Resolution of the Board of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Regulation and Supervision of Financial market and financial organizations from September 30, 2005 No. 359. At the beginning of the development of compliance functions in banks, local banks did not fully understand the importance of compliance control, Foreign experts were trained to introduce this process into banks.

For any state it is attractive to have in the economy in general, and in the banking sector in particular the presence of foreign investors. Their presence in the country means that the world community regards the country, and in our case Kazakhstan, as a stable economically and politically developed state, in which it is safe to invest money. This also means that Kazakhstan has the potential for economic development, particularly in the banking sector, the investor expects to make a profit, foreign investors have their own vision for development prospects, possibly presuppose the existence of advantages over local banks.
The National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as a financial regulator of banking activities, informs the population of Kazakhstan about existing banks created with the use of capital of Kazakhstan entrepreneurs, and with foreign participation, posting information on its official Internet resource, which can be accessed via the link http: / /www.nationalbank.kz/?docid=3009&switch=russian.
At present, 33 second-tier banks operate in Kazakhstan, of which 12 are created with the participation of foreign banks. A number of subsidiary banks are represented on the financial market. Subsidiary banks in their name are obliged to use the name of the parent organizations. Therefore, based on the names of Kazakh banks, information on their shareholders becomes clear.
As a rule, shareholders of banks with foreign participation are large financial corporations or financial institutions of any particular country. In Kazakhstan, in the banking sector, such foreign financial institutions are represented as parental organizations of second-tier banks with foreign participation, such as:

Citibank N.A. (USA) - in JSC Citibank Kazakhstan, which specializes in servicing large international corporate clients located in Kazakhstan;
Al Hilal Bank (UAE) - in the Islamic Bank Al-Hilal, which is the only Islamic bank in the country that carries out banking activities under the unique standards of Islamic Sharia;

The National Bank of Pakistan (Republic of Pakistan) - in JSC "DB" National Bank of Pakistan "in Kazakhstan, serving the representatives of Pakistan, located in our country;

T.S. "Ziraat Bankasi" (Republic of Turkey) - in JSC "Daughter Bank" Kazakhstan-Ziraat International Bank ", cooperating with Turkish entrepreneurs and individuals;

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (PRC) - in JSC "Commercial and Industrial Bank of China in Almaty", which works with individuals and legal entities from China;

Shinhan Bank (Republic of Korea) - in JSC Shinhan Bank Kazakhstan, servicing corporations and individuals from Korea;
JSC "Alfa-Bank" (Russia) - in the JSC DB "Alfa-Bank";

Bank of China (PRC) - in JSC DB "Bank of China in Kazakhstan", also works with individuals and legal entities from China;
Home Credit and Finance Bank (Russia) - in DB Bank Home Credit JSC;

PJSC "Sberbank of Russia" (Russia) - in DB of JSC "Sberbank of Russia";
PJSC "Bank VTB" - in the JSB JSC VTB Bank (Kazakhstan).
It should be noted that these banks accept servicing for all interested individuals and legal entities, both residents and non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan. But, apparently, due to the mentality, entrepreneurs and individuals turn to those banks that can provide services in a certain language, and who at a deeper level understand the needs of representatives of individual states.

Also in November 2016, JSC "Altyn Bank" (JSC "Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan" JSC) announced that Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan JSC reached an agreement on attracting a strategic investor - one of the largest financial institutions of the People's Republic of China China CITIC Bank Corporation Limited and the sale of 60% of the shares of Altyn Bank JSC (DB of Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan) owned by the People's Bank . [2] This means that soon another foreign investor will enter the banking sector of the country.
However, to great regret, in November 2014 the financial market of the country was left by such a large player as SB JSC HSBC Bank Kazakhstan (the parent organization was HSBC Bank plc, UK)
[3]. In June 2016, JSC SB RBS (Kazakhstan), the only shareholder of the bank was Royal Bank of Scotland plc, was also acquired by an entrepreneur from Russia [4].

All this testifies that in the banking sector of the country there are periodic changes both in the direction of improvement with the infusion of foreign capital into local banks and in the other direction when foreign investors leave the Kazakhstani banking market.

Thus, foreign investors from many parts of the world are represented in the Kazakhstani banking sector, and Kazakhstan's nearest neighbors, represented by the major banks of China and Russia, are particularly represented.
The presence of foreign financial institutions in the financial market of Kazakhstan, in our opinion, positively affects both the banking business and for supervisory purposes. On the business side, the economic aspects can be positive moments: providing customers with banking products that may not yet be represented in local banks, quality of service, information security and other issues. From the supervision side, it may be useful to experience the development and supervision of the banking sector in any foreign country from which the investor is represented.

Responsibilities of the compliance control of DB of JSC "HSBC Bank Kazakhstan" were clearly defined by the requirements of the parent organization and divided into two components: the issues of countering money laundering and terrorism financing (monitoring of sent messages subject to financial monitoring, identification of suspicious transactions, taking other measures to counter money laundering and terrorist financing), and issues related to compliance with the requirements of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The composition and staff of the compliance department was also approved by the board of directors of the bank, the compliance controller was subordinate to the board of directors, all available information regarding the situation in the bank was brought to the notice of the bank's management. Thus, the bank's leaders supported the compliance culture by assigning one of the key role to the compliance control work.
As far as the author of this article is aware, approximately the same scheme was used in JSC DB "RBS (Kazakhstan)".

Other experience of functioning of compliance control in banks with foreign participation can also be introduced: the compliance controller is subordinate to the board of directors, but there is no support from the parent organization for the implementation and operation of compliance control, compliance officers based on their experience and knowledge introduces in the daily life of the bank internal control.
From this it can be concluded that parental organizations that are foreign banks and having the appropriate compliance culture, the experience of its implementation in their banks, intends in their image to implement the same campaigns on compliance control in all their subsidiaries. First of all, in our opinion, this is done with a view to facilitating the management of subsidiaries, the use of unified approaches when analyzing a particular situation in banks, and maintaining the bank's business reputation.

The situation with regard to compliance control is slightly different in Kazakhstan banks, in which there is no foreign capital. So, not in all local banks, the compliance controller is subordinate to the board of directors, in local banks it can be subordinated to the board of the Bank, which in our opinion can be regarded as a conflict of interest, since the bank's board is called upon to take measures to eliminate the compliance risk recommended by the compliance controller , he does not have the functional to apply to the board of directors, this can be regarded as exceeding his official powers. In the event that the compliance controller is subordinated to the management board, the board at its level solves, including questions of informing the board of directors about the true state of affairs in the effectiveness of compliance control in the bank. In addition to this feature in Kazakh banks without foreign participation in the function of compliance control, which is the second line of defense, the bank's board can be transferred not its inherent tasks, the issues of the units of the first line of defense. For example, in Kazakhstan banks, the responsibilities of the compliance controller may include not only control issues, but directly issues of performance of any duties. In banks without foreign participation, compliance is often associated only with the issues of combating money laundering and terrorist financing. This can be explained by the fact that the bank's management may underestimate or misunderstand the importance of the second line of compliance risk, perhaps the bank's leaders do not fully understand the need for this function in a bank that does not bring direct income to banking activities, but is an additional obstacle to ways to solve business problems.

Thus, at present, the Rules for the formation of a risk management system in second-tier banks approved by the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 29 of February 26, 2014 provide for the possibility of subjecting the compliance controller to both the board of directors and the board (its chairman). Also, the specified normative legal act describes the functional of the compliance control unit, while it does not stipulate that the fulfillment of other functions can not be entrusted to the Compliance Control Division.

Thus, the National Bank, in its normative legal act, provided for the right of banks to independently resolve issues of compliance and functional responsibilities of the compliance control unit, including compliance control activities, in our opinion, rendered "disservice" to the banking sector, as the lack of a unified approach to the organization of compliance control in all Kazakhstan banks allows banks to abuse this right and not fully use the lever to minimize compliance risk. This skew may be eliminated, in our opinion, by fixing clear requirements both for subordination and for functional duties of the compliance controller function in all second-tier banks. The introduction of this proposal, perhaps, will help to eliminate the existing imbalances in banks on compliance issues.

 

1. Д.В. Малыхин Особенности организации комплаенс контроля в российских банках // Методический журнал «Внутренний контроль в кредитной организации». - #2009.  base.garant.ru/5750020/ base.garant.ru/5750020/

2. АО «Народный Банк Казахстана» подписало меморандум о взаимопонимании с China Citic Bank Corporation Limited

http://www.altynbank.kz/ru/press.center/news/2016/November/249

3. HSBC покидает Казахстан из-за нехватки возможностей для развития https://www.zakon.kz/4606000-hsbc-pokidaet-kazakhstan-iz-za.html

4. Банк RBS Kazakhstan сменил название     https://www.banker.kz/news/rbs-kazakhstan-bank-changed-its-name