The Regional Financial Center of Almaty (RFCA) is one of the Kazakhstan government's premier projects aimed at diversifying the national economy and improving the country's position in the global market. This research examines the feasibility of the RFCA. For a financial center to succeed, a number of conditions must exist. Successful growth of a financial center requires a healthy financial sector and a favorable investment climate. Based on an analysis of the existing circumstances in Kazakhstan and the structure of its economy, I argue that the RFCA creates opportunities for the domestic economy, but its functional feasibility is currently constrained by the limited scope of a variety of financial services available in Kazakhstan, the distorted structure of the economy and the poor performance of the industrial sector. This analysis shows that the financial center is not feasible at this point in time and requires a sequence of investments in other sectors of the economy to support its operations and growth. Otherwise, there is a risk that the establishment of the RFCA may redirect a bulk of national resources away from other vital industries, where these resources are more needed, solely into the financial sector. This exclusive investment may ultimately lead to the failure of the RFCA.