Clients of the brokerage company JSC «First Heartland Jusan Invest» invested in financial instruments and lost almost all of their assets. Meanwhile, the company does not see any fault on its part and claims that clients should have been aware of the risks of investment. The FBRK editorial team investigated whether «Jusan Invest» is being objective in shifting all responsibility onto its depositors.
To recap, in 2021, clients of «Jusan Invest» invested in structured notes, and in the spring of 2023, when the securities began to lose value significantly, depositors were unable to withdraw their assets due to a technical glitch in the brokerage company's mobile app. They now intend to recover their lost funds, as they believe they were misled by being presented with what was supposedly a 'perfect option' for investment.
«Jusan Invest» is convinced that investors should have been aware of all the risks, given the high interest rate of the structured notes (up to 20% per annum in foreign currency). Furthermore, the company claims that clients were informed about investment risks at the time of signing the brokerage agreements. However, the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) found that depositors were not properly explained how structured notes work and what they entail.
The ARDFM also identified that the company was not entitled to sell certain financial instruments to Kazakhstani clients, as they were unqualified for such investments. Meanwhile, screenshots of correspondence between depositors and company managers, which came into the possession of the FBRK editorial team, suggest that «Jusan Invest» employees actively recommended that clients invest in these financial instruments, almost guaranteeing high returns. 
In light of all the above facts, some questions arise. What is the actual degree of responsibility that «Jusan Invest» bears for the fact that investors lost millions? Is the blame truly only on the depositors themselves? And how 'unforeseen' was the technical glitch in the mobile app at that very moment when the financial instruments suddenly dropped in value?
As we have previously noted, the ARDFM conducted an inspection of JSC «First Heartland Jusan Invest», as a result of which the agency drew up 82 protocols on administrative offences under Part 2 of Article 262 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("Violation of requirements established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the securities market and joint-stock companies").
It is worth noting this is not the first time the brokerage company has come under the regulator's close scrutiny.
The FBRK editorial team has learned that in July 2023 representatives of the Department of the Securities Market of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) filed a lawsuit against JSC «First Heartland Jusan Invest» in court in order to hold the company administratively liable.
It was reported that the brokerage company repeatedly submitted inaccurate reports to the authorised bodies regarding the average value of one conventional unit of pension assets.
As a result, by decision of the Specialised Inter-District Administrative Offences Court of Almaty, «Jusan Invest» was fined 345 thousand tenge in accordance with Article 256 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("Violation by a professional participant in the securities market and other persons of requirements for the provision of reporting, information, and data").
In October 2023 representatives of the Department of the Securities Market of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market again filed a lawsuit against JSC «First Heartland Jusan Invest» in court in order to hold the company administratively liable, but this time on a different matter.
As we have learned from court documents, the official website of «Jusan Invest» was missing 17 publications regarding the estimated value of units for interval mutual investment funds (IMIF) on specific dates.
In court, company representatives stated that the reason for this was a technical glitch and inadequate verification of data accuracy by the responsible employees.
However, the ARDFM's Department of the Securities Market concluded that the absence of this information on the company's website contradicts the requirements of the Law "On Investment and Venture Funds". Consequently, the regulator filed a corresponding lawsuit in court.
The Specialised Inter-District Administrative Offences Court of Almaty made a decision to fine «Jusan Invest» 16.4 million tenge.
A couple of days later, company representatives filed an appeal complaint with the Almaty City Court in order to contest the first instance decision, but the appellate court left the complaint dismissed.
Returning to the problems faced by clients of «Jusan Invest», it is worth noting that for the violations identified by the regulator, the brokerage company was fined a total of 13.7 million tenge. This is much less than the amount lost by hundreds of Kazakhstani investors.
Meanwhile, the depositors are not giving up and are trying to obtain compensation for their financial losses. In their opinion, the brokerage company should compensate them for their damages. To determine whether the investors have any chance of recovering their lost investments, the FBRK editorial team has sent official requests to the ARDFM and the Prosecutor General's Office.
To be continued…