ALMATY -- Kazakhstan has defended the country's second-largest lender as being "fully" compliant with sanctions against Russia after a scathing report saw around 20 percent wiped off the Nasdaq-listed Kaspi.kz's stock price.
A September 19 report published by Culper Research poured doubt on the claim by fintech giant Kaspi that it lacks exposure to sanctions-struck Russia and raised concerns about the group's past affiliations to a relative of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev who was convicted by a Kazakh court of major embezzlement in 2022.
In a September 19 statement, Kaspi.kz called Culper's report "misleading" and "inaccurate."
The report, Kaspi.kz (KSPI): The NASDAQ-Listed Fintech Moving Money For Criminals And Kleptocrats, focused on Kaspi.kz's issuance of bank cards to Russians, tens of thousands of whom arrived in Kazakhstan in the wake of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"As the U.S. and other nations continue to broaden sanctions against those found to be aiding Russia's wartime economy, we believe Kaspi now risks secondary sanctions," the report warned, justifying its "short" position on the company.
Kaspi.kz is widely viewed as a success story in Kazakhstan, going from a relatively obscure bank to the country's leader in mobile payments and online marketplace services in some 20 years.
SEE ALSO: The West Cautiously Extends Migrant Worker Options For Central AsiaIn a September 23 statement, Kazakhstan's Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Markets called Kaspi "one of the country's systemically important and steadily developing banks, demonstrating sustainable growth and a high level of transparency."
"The bank fully complies with the sanctions regime of the U.S., the European Union, and other foreign countries," the agency said, referring to the sanctions imposed on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The main shareholders in Kaspi.kz are Kazakh billionaire Vyacheslav Kim, Georgia-born Mikhail Lomtadze, and Baring Funds, part of a Commonwealth of Independent States-focused private equity investor.
Kaspi.kz listed in 2020 on the London Stock Exchange to become the its largest international tech public offering that year.
In January it joined the Nasdaq in an initial public offering that saw the business valued at $17.5 billion.
"Being the first company from Kazakhstan to successfully list on Nasdaq has obviously raised our profile amongst short sellers," Kaspi.kz said in its statement.
Nazarbaev's nephew, Kairat Satybaldy, who once held a stake of around 30 percent in Kaspi, exited the company prior to the successful listings.
In August, Lomtadze, who is CEO of Kaspi.kz, declared the company's intention to compete in the forthcoming privatization of Humo, neighboring Uzbekistan's state-backed payment system.
In May, Lomtadze was revealed as the new owner of Wycombe Wanderers, a third-tier English soccer club.