Investment starts not with money, but with trust, says Birzhevoy Broker platform head

In the six months since launch, more than 80,000 people have registered on the Birzhevoy Broker (Stock Broker) platform and through partner platforms, and shares in American companies can now be purchased directly from a mobile operator’s app. In October, the company became a placement partner for Alif Uzbekistan sukuk — Islamic bonds denominated in dollars and ava ilable to investors from Tajikistan. Birzhevoy Broker Director-GeneralAbduvoris Qalandarov spoke about who is investing in the country today, how to tell a licensed broker from fraudsters, and why the Islamic finance market in the region is only just getting started. A market that didn’t exist Q. Abduvoris, it is generally assumed that people in Tajikistan keep their savings in dollars at home or invest in property. Why does the country need a retail broker? A. Precisely because that is the case.

Money kept at home does not work and loses value over time. Property is a good asset, but it is not accessible to everyone and requires a large sum upfront. Until recently, a person in Tajikistan simply had no straightforward, regulated way to invest a hundred dollars in shares or bonds. The only options were to look for a foreign broker or to trust obscure platforms from social media. We have made that option available from a phone — in the Birzhevoy Broker app and under a Tajik license. Q. If we put that into figures: how many clients do you have and how quickly are you growing? A. In the six months since launch, more than 80,000 people have registered on our platform and through partner platforms. What matters more to us is something else: for the majority of them, this is their first encounter with the securities market. That means we are not dividing up an existing market — we are creating a new one. Q. Who is…