7 key compliance trends for Kazakhstan in 2020

Compliance is continuing to evolve in Kazakhstan, and our friends at banker.kz have outlined 7 key compliance trends for the country in 2020:

  1. Compliance risk management and internal control systems will be reviewed. The National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan passed revised risk management system and internal control requirements late last year. Financial institutions are expected to comply with these by July 1, 2020.
  2. The fight against the shadow economy will continue. Financial institutions are required to perform financial monitoring to combat money laundering. In this regard, they have been active participants in identifying suspect transactions. This is expected to continue and could intensify in 2020.
  3. Anti-corruption measures will remain important. The government has made moves that indicate its intention to step up efforts to fight corruption in both the public and private sectors. This is likely to involve an increased number of compliance specialists.
  4. A compliance culture will be developed. It is important that all employees (from top management to average staff) buy into and understand compliance policies and procedures. Many institutions are expected to implement measures to boost the creation of a compliance culture in the country this year.
  5. Processes will continue to be optimized. Excessive bureaucratization of internal processes adversely affects organizations. Unfortunately, compliance can serve as one of the sources of bureaucracy. It is important to understand that compliance should help an organization to become better.
  6. Compliance will expand its reach into other sectors. Ten years ago, compliance was actively developing mainly in the banking sector or in subsidiaries of large international organizations, but now various government agencies, quasi-state companies and private companies see compliance as an important control tool for improving performance.
  7. Strategic compliance approaches will be developed. The implementation of individual developments regarding compliance can have a positive effect; however, it is very important to have a strategic approach to the development of a compliance control system.