Currently, no banks in Kazakhstan are using the Bank of Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), the Russian equivalent of the SWIFT financial transfer system, according to the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan’s National Payment Corporation (NPC), a subsidiary of the National Bank responsible for interbank payments and money transfers, previously cooperated with SPFS. In the summer of 2024, the NPC was integrated with Russia’s SPFS through an intermediary bank messaging system (BMS). At that time, at least one Kazakhstani bank, Bereke Bank, was using SPFS.
The National Bank did not directly answer Kursiv.media’s inquiry about whether it is still cooperating with SPFS through the NPC and BMS. Instead, the regulator stated that the BMS is a local messaging system operated by the NPC to facilitate financial communication between organizations.
On Feb. 24, 2025, the EU approved its 16th package of sanctions against Russia, which included restrictions on 83 individuals and companies, including two organizations from Kazakhstan. The package also prohibits third-country organizations from using Russia’s SPFS.
