We support a company's own finance function. We are not authorised to provide financial services. We hold no client money, manage no investments and trade nothing on anyone's behalf. Hedging instruments are arranged with licensed banks, not with us.
Corporate finance support · Astana
Earning in tenge and paying in dollars is a business risk, not a trading opportunity
Continent Finance Management Ltd. supports the finance function of companies operating in Kazakhstan: planning, cash flow, management reporting and the practical handling of currency exposure.
That last one is where most of the damage happens in this market. A company buys equipment or stock abroad, sells at home, and discovers that a margin calculated in spring no longer exists in autumn. The mistake is rarely the rate itself — it is treating the rate as something to predict.
Illustration only — no real data. The point is the gap between the two lines, not the direction of either.
Where the exposure sits
Four positions, four different answers
Currency risk is not one thing. Where a company sits on this grid decides what it should actually do — select a square.
Costs mostly in tenge
Costs mostly in foreign currency
Revenue in foreign currency
Revenue in tenge
Select a square
Each position carries a different exposure and a different set of sensible responses.
The honest division
What a company can and cannot control
Within your control
Which currency your contracts are written in, and who carries the movement
How long you are exposed — shorter payment cycles mean less time for the rate to move
Whether your pricing is reviewed when the rate moves, or once a year
Holding a buffer so that a bad month does not force a bad decision
Matching currencies where you can, so inflows and outflows offset
Outside anyone's control
Where the exchange rate goes next week or next year
What any analyst, adviser or bank forecast turns out to be worth
Commodity prices, external shocks and policy decisions abroad
Whether the direction that hurt you last year repeats or reverses
Anyone's promise of a guaranteed rate or a guaranteed return from currency
Everything practical lives in the left column. A finance function that works on the left column steadily will outperform one that spends its energy trying to call the right column correctly.
A line worth drawing
Hedging is a banking product. Speculation is not a strategy.
Instruments to fix or limit a future rate exist and are legitimate — forwards, options and similar arrangements, offered by licensed banks and authorised firms, under contracts with real terms and real costs. A business may reasonably use them to make a budget hold.
Ask what it costs and what it gives upFixing a rate protects you against a bad move and removes the benefit of a good one. That trade is the product; anyone presenting it as free has not explained it.
Arrange it with a licensed institutionThrough your bank or an authorised firm whose permissions you have verified in the regulator's register — not through an intermediary who asks you to transfer funds to them.
Hedge the exposure, not a viewA hedge sized to an actual contracted payment is risk management. A larger position taken because someone expects a move is a trade, and the company's money is not for that.
Treat "guaranteed currency returns" as fraudOffers to manage a company's currency for a guaranteed monthly profit are a standing feature of this market and a standing warning sign.
Services
What we do
Cash flow planning
Rolling forecasts a manager can actually act on, including the weeks where money is tightest.
Management reporting
Regular reporting that shows the position now rather than after the annual accounts are closed.
Exposure mapping
Setting out where a company's currency exposure genuinely sits, by contract and by timing, before anyone discusses instruments.
Budgeting and scenarios
Building the plan and then testing it against movements that have happened before, rather than the one everyone hopes for.
Working with your bank
Preparing the questions and the figures for a conversation with a licensed institution — which is where any instrument is arranged.
What we do not do
Hold client money, trade on anyone's behalf, manage investments, offer financial products, or forecast exchange rates.
Questions
Asked regularly
i.Where do you think the rate is going?
We do not know, and neither does anyone offering you a number. A finance function should be built so that the answer matters less, not so that it matters more.
ii.Should we hedge?
It depends on the size and timing of real exposures and on whether the cost is worth the certainty. Map the exposure first. If hedging makes sense, it is arranged with your bank.
iii.Can you trade currency for our company?
No. We are not authorised for that and do not do it. Any firm offering to trade on your behalf must hold the relevant permissions, which you can verify in the regulator's public register before sending anything.
iv.Are you regulated because you are in the AIFC?
Being incorporated in the AIFC is company registration. Authorisation to provide financial services is separate, and we do not hold it — which is why our work stops at supporting your own finance function.
v.How do we start?
Send your last twelve months of cash movements and your contracted foreign-currency commitments. The exposure map usually surprises people more than the forecast does.
Contact
Business enquiries only
We work with companies on their own finances. We have nothing to offer investors, because we offer no investments.
Registered officeMangilik El Avenue, building 55/23 Astana, Kazakhstan