The Kazakh companies: note issuer and fintech company

analysisThe AFSA public register lists The Ultima Global Markets Qazaqstan Limited (business identification number 221040900440) as an active AIFC private company registered on 18 October 2022 at 16 Dostyk Street, office 2, Astana, with THE ULTIMA WORLD DMCC as its shareholder and 800,000 ordinary shares of USD 1. It was named BCS Global Markets Qazaqstan Limited until 9 December 2024. Its registered business is the issue of structured products and pre-IPO notes to be listed on AIX, securities trading for hedging, and derivative transactions. The issuer's website describes its products as structured notes: credit-linked notes on one or several names, equity-linked notes (most often of the Phoenix type), hybrid credit and equity products, tracker notes and pre-IPO notes giving exposure to late-stage venture companies. ^{1 2}

analysisAccording to the AFSA register, Konstantin Pavlov has been a director and authorised signatory since 18 October 2022 and was chief executive until 10 September 2025; Denis Kozub has been a director since 29 March 2023; Dmitry Trenin was a director from 29 March 2023 to 10 September 2025; Dmitry Zakharov was a director from 29 March 2023 to 10 September 2025 and again from 30 January 2026; Azamat Shintayev has been director, chief executive and authorised signatory since 10 September 2025; and Kirill Greshnikov was an authorised signatory from 18 October 2022 to 26 September 2025. The 2025 prospectus names Kozub as chairman of the board. The March 2024 prospectus states that Pavlov was appointed a director on 18 October 2022 for two years and a member of the board on 29 March 2023 for three years, and that Kozub, Trenin and Zakharov were appointed to the board on 29 March 2023 for three years. ^{1 2 3}

analysisThe April 2025 prospectus states that each of the issuer's four directors also held a post at the Russian broker BrokerCreditService Ltd: Pavlov as head of the derivatives and structured products department of its investment banking division from April 2021, Kozub as head of investment banking from August 2022, Trenin as head of securities trading from January 2023, and Zakharov as chief operating officer of the investment banking division from February 2023. The prospectus gives these posts as of its date, 17 April 2025, and says the directors perform no other principal activities outside the issuer. ²

analysisThe issuer's audited statements show net income of KZT 389,087 thousand for 2024 (2023: KZT 146,102 thousand) and KZT 2,368,113 thousand for 2025, with total assets of KZT 9,788,240 thousand at the end of 2024 and KZT 9,614,016 thousand at the end of 2025. THE ULTIMA WORLD DMCC lent money to the issuer: the issuer owed its sole shareholder KZT 2,447,365 thousand at the end of 2023, repaid the principal on 19 April 2024 and paid the accrued interest of KZT 102,427 thousand in full in February 2025; its financial expenses to the shareholder were KZT 100,702 thousand in 2024 and KZT 18,565 thousand in 2023. At the end of 2023 its statements also showed a loan given of KZT 15,606,333 thousand; they state that 'the loan from SPRKGROUP TRADING LIMITED was fully repaid' by 15 March 2024, with nothing outstanding, and do not describe the borrower or the purpose of the loan. The auditor is Crowe Audit Astana LLP, licensed by the AFSA, which issued the independent auditor's report on the 2024 financial statements. ^{1 2 3}

analysisThe Ultima Fintech Qazaqstan, which FINRA lists among companies owned by THE ULTIMA WORLD DMCC, appears in Kazakh business directories as TOO 'Ultima Fintech Kazakhstan' (business identification number 230240029933), registered on 17 February 2023, formerly TOO 'BCS Fintech Kazakhstan', a software developer at Shamshi Kaldayakov Street 4/1, Astana. The directories name Rosana Kirpichnikova as director since 31 May 2026 and also list Alexey Vladimirovich Annenkov and Dmitry Valerievich Ivanov, the latter from 16 February 2023, among its managers; Kazakh statistics data class it as a company under foreign control. Kazakh revenue data shown by a directory record its tax payments as KZT 1,231,104 for 2023, KZT 13,755,613 for 2024 and KZT 16,215,162 for 2025. The directories hide the founders; FINRA's address for the company (16 Dostyk Avenue) differs from the directory address; and a search of the AIFC public register for 'Ultima' returns only the group's Kazakh issuer and an unrelated company, so the company is not an AIFC entity. ^{1 2 3 4}