Timur Suleimenov, head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, announced that the investment strategy for citizens' pension savings will depend on their age. The specific mechanism for the new management model is expected to be approved in 2027, according to infohub.kz.
During a briefing, Suleimenov commented on the introduction of a new pension investment model with varying degrees of risk and potential returns. He noted that currently, pension asset managers can already choose from several strategies—conservative, moderate, or aggressive—but these are typically applied uniformly to all assets. Now, the plan is to introduce separate age-based portfolios with different approaches.
"For instance, a 22-year-old who has just graduated from university and started working has 40-50 years of working life ahead until retirement, so their investment strategy could be more aggressive. But a 60-year-old who invests in an aggressive portfolio might lose everything by the time they retire. Of course, that cannot be allowed. So this age-based diversification is simple financial and social logic," said the head of the National Bank.
In essence, pension portfolio managers, including the National Bank, will be able to offer young Kazakhstanis a potentially higher-yielding but riskier investment strategy for their pension savings. Meanwhile, for middle-aged and older contributors, investments will be safer but possibly less profitable.
"Currently, approaches to this reform and the actual draft resolutions of the National Bank will be developed after the program is approved, mainly in 2027. I think we will be able to discuss this in more detail at subsequent conferences," Suleimenov added.
Earlier, it was reported that the National Bank plans to change its approach to investing citizens' pension savings and introduce age-based portfolios. For young citizens, portfolios will be formed with a higher share of stocks and growth instruments, and as they approach retirement, assets will gradually be shifted to more conservative and liquid financial instruments.