Astana, 3 November. Insurers and insurance agents will have to tell clients the size of the agent’s commission in advance and state it in the contract and the policy in tenge and as a percentage of the premium, the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market reported.
The requirement is in Agency Board resolution No. 156 of 30 October 2026; it takes effect ten calendar days after first official publication. Until now a policy only said whether an agent was entitled to a commission, without the amount. The new rule applies to voluntary insurance: agents may not take part in selling compulsory types. According to Deputy Chairman Nurzhan Tursunkhanov, it will let clients compare offers and reduce the risk that an agent recommends a policy for their own benefit.
The same resolution changes how the buyout amount is calculated for pension annuity contracts. An annuity is a contract under which a person receives lifelong payments from a life insurer, funded by money transferred from the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund. When a person switches insurer, a buyout amount is calculated; previously it did not count investment income, and the client could be offered part of the money as a lump sum out of that income. That money then no longer counted towards future payments, and the pension under the new contract could be lower. Investment income will now be included in the buyout amount at the effective annual rate of return. Tursunkhanov clarified that it is about keeping the income within the funds backing the annuity, not paying it out in hand.
What it means: The regulator is removing two opaque practices from the insurance market: the hidden agent commission and the “gift” for moving to another company that ate into a lifelong pension.
Who benefits: Buyers of voluntary insurance, who will see the price of the intermediary, and holders of pension annuities, who will no longer be offered a lump sum instead of part of their future payments when they switch insurers. What changes for insurers and agents is not assessed in the statement.
Background: On 2 November the Agency launched a regular review of how 11 large banks calculate borrowers’ debt-service ratio; it was preceded by a pilot in eight banks.
