(Bloomberg) -- Kazakh brokerages are up in arms over emergency rules that have hurt their business after local regulators tightened control over transnational financial operations, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg. 

The new rules, issued on Jan. 10 following deadly riots in the central Asian country, have disrupted the brokerages’ activities on international capital markets, according to a Feb. 3 letter to domestic regulators signed by Halyk Finance, SkyBridge Invest, Halyk Global Markets, Jusan Invest and Centras Securities. The rules apply to most securities deals of over $1 million.

“The loss of trade lines, defaults and disruption to partnerships have significantly impacted the reputation of our financial system in the eyes of the global market,” according to the letter, which was sent to the central bank, an industry group and financial regulation and monitoring agencies. 

Kazakh regulators started a dialog on the matter after receiving the letter and have indicated they are open to changing the regulations, SkyBridge Invest Chief Executive Officer Sholpan Ainabaeva said by email. 

Halyk Finance said in an emailed statement settlements for some transactions of over $1 million faced delays but ultimately went though. It confirmed that market participants appealed to regulators to address the issue.

The central bank, Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Market, Financial Monitoring Agency and remaining brokerages didn’t respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg News.

The issues are a blow to Kazakhstan’s aspiration to create an international financial center in Nur Sultan, the capital city, where it is offering tax breaks and the promise of a Common Law court with a goal of becoming the Dubai of central Asia. 

“We expect the necessary amendments will be adopted soon to avoid potential negative consequences,” the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan said in an emailed statement.

The restrictions were enacted after protests in early January over fuel prices erupted into the worst riots in the history of independent Kazakhstan. In the aftermath of the deadly violence, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev vowed to take on the country’s entrenched oligarchs and clamped down on capital outflows.

Tokayev on Jan. 11 ordered tighter control over financial transactions to prevent “groundlessly moving money out of the country.”

The Financial Monitoring Agency has tripled the amount of blocked operations to 150 billion tenge ($350 million) this year, it reported to Tokayev Monday.  

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.