The 2nd Annual Adam Smith Institute “CFO Summit Kazakhstan” took place on 18th-20th November2008. Over 100 financiers gathered in Almaty to sum up the results of the passing year, to share experience, and to re-consider strategies in the conditions of uncertainty.

The financial crisis and its repercussions were the cross-cutting topics of speakers’ presentations and hall conversations.

The first sessions was entirely devoted to macroeconomic analysis of Kazakhstan, as well as the short-term forecast. Tim Callen, Kazakhstan Mission Chief at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, gave a key presentation entitled “What does the future hold in store? Forecast and five year outlook”. According to IMF calculations, the situation in the short-term future will remain very difficult, but the in next five years we should expect to see more favourable economic conditions and opportunities.

His opinion was shared by John Litwack, Lead economist of the IBRD, who highlighted the positive side of the crisis: “It is a good thing that the bubble has burst”, having given way to  opportunities for economic diversification and quality development. Daniyar Akishev, Deputy Governor, National Bank of Kazakhstan, gave an overview of the financial system of Kazakhstan and of measures aimed at stabilising the effects of the liquidity crisis, and Alexander Picker, CEO, ATF Bank, analysed the banking system from the point of view of commercial structure.

Other topics of the day’s discussions included the Tax Code reform, initial merger results of the two financial platforms of Kazakhstan, and the role of a CFO during unstable times.

The second day of the Summit focused on the issue of attracting capital in the current conditions. The discussion on opportunities for IPOs in the EU and Kazakhstan was followed by a creative brainstorming session, dedicated to defining alternative funding methods. A great deal of attention was paid to the session on optimising business for capital release.

Participants heard Case Studies of such companies, as Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Max Petroleum, BuildInvest Group, КаzMunaiGas Exploration Production, Каzpost, SamrukKazyna, Каztemirtrans, Ansher Fund Management, and many others. Famous Champagne Roundtables took place at the end of the day, which provided the delegates with an informal atmosphere to discuss such matters as cost management strategies, with Vincent Leclercq, CFO, Proctor & Gamble; development of treasury policy with Zhanneta Bekezhanova, CFO, KazMunaiGas Exploration Production; and risk management with Tony Auch, the Institute of Risk Management.

The last day of the conference was dedicated to risk management training, which was led by Tony Auch, Regional Director, the Institute of Risk Management. The training session covered the reasons for the financial crisis both worldwide and in Kazakhstan, methods of risk analysis, evaluation and control, as well as continuity planning for business process, and introduction of risk management culture.

The Adam Smith Institute would like to thank all speakers, partners and Summit participants for their contribution to the Summit during these difficult times.

We are hoping to see you all again in 2009! Should you have any suggestions, critical commentaries, or simply ideas related to the summit, please send them to us by email at olga@adamsmithconferences.com