Banks from Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe are interested in entering the Kazakh market, according to Olzhas Kizatov, deputy chairman of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM).
«There is a certain interest from banks in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, I cannot reveal the names of these banks right now because they are in the process of examining the possibility of entering our banking market,” Kizatov said on the sidelines of the Senate, the upper house of parliament.
The official also noted that no final decisions have been made yet. Meanwhile, authorities are planning to lower requirements for opening branches of foreign banks in Kazakhstan.
Currently, the law requires any foreign bank wanting to enter Kazakhstan’s market to have at least $20 billion in assets. Over the past five years, while this rule has been in effect, not a single foreign bank has opened a branch in Kazakhstan.
“Based on what we know about a certain interest from our trading partners and countries we have economic ties with, we have proposed lowering the asset requirement to $10 billion. We believe this measure could speed up the process of foreign banks entering the Kazakh market,» Kizatov added.
He also referred to a World Bank report stating that foreign banks entering highly competitive markets — including Kazakhstan — help reduce the cost of banking services by 10% to 15%, lowering loan interest rates by 1.5% to 2%. According to the deputy head of the ARDFM, the presence of new banks could have a positive impact on the development of the Kazakh banking sector by boosting competition.
