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🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan /Economy & Trade

Low salary and staff shortage: How the State Financial Supervision Service operates today

From 24.kg · () Russian

Translated from Russian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Interview Sources not specified Context piece
  • The head of Kyrgyzstan's State Financial Supervision Service, Kairat Mamatov, revealed that the department's oversight division has only three employees.
  • Mamatov highlighted the need for reforms, including increasing staff numbers and changing inspection systems, due to the vast number of entities regulated.
  • He explained that the service oversees the entire non-banking financial sector, including securities, insurance, and virtual assets, issuing licenses and conducting supervision.

Kyrgyzstan's State Financial Supervision Service is struggling with a severe staff shortage, with its oversight division employing only three people, according to service head Kairat Mamatov. This comes as the agency regulates a rapidly expanding financial landscape, including the burgeoning cryptocurrency market, which now surpasses the banking sector in turnover.

The service regulates the entire non-banking sector. Regulated areas: securities market; insurance; audit, accounting and financial reporting; non-state pension funds; commodity exchanges and exchange trading; lottery activities; pawnshop activities; leasing activities; gambling activities; online casinos; virtual asset market. We issue licenses, check activities, that is, we supervise.

— Kairat MamatovKairat Mamatov explaining the broad scope of the State Financial Supervision Service's responsibilities.

Mamatov, speaking in an interview with 24.kg, detailed the extensive responsibilities of the service. It oversees the non-banking financial sector, encompassing securities markets, insurance, auditing, non-state pension funds, commodity exchanges, lotteries, pawnshops, leasing, and gambling activities, including online casinos and virtual assets. While licensing for virtual assets has shifted to a new national agency, the State Financial Supervision Service retains its oversight role.

The agency regulates 2,298 legal and physical entities, issuing 2,589 licenses, registrations, and certificates. Mamatov emphasized the urgent need for reforms, primarily to increase the number of employees and overhaul the inspection system. He noted that current regulations require any inspection to be well-founded and approved by the Ministry of Economy, a process that can be cumbersome given the scale of operations.

The number of subjects is very large, 2,298 legal and physical entities operate in the non-banking financial market, to whom 2,589 licenses, registrations and certificates have been issued.

— Kairat MamatovKairat Mamatov detailing the number of entities regulated by the service.

Mamatov also clarified his own background, stating that his move to head the service in March was driven by his economic expertise and interest in the financial sphere, despite previous roles in different sectors. He stressed that his financial background made the transition logical, and he could not refuse the offer to lead the agency.

The first thing is to increase the number of employees. The oversight department currently has only three employees.

— Kairat MamatovKairat Mamatov highlighting the critical staff shortage in the oversight department.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by 24.kg in Russian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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