Zaman Bank, Kazakhstan’s Islamic bank, was the country’s sole financial institution to post a loss in May, reporting a deficit of approximately $2.4 million, according to data from the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
The bank made headlines in November 2024 when a test payment was successfully processed between Zaman Bank and Afghanistan’s Ghazanfar Bank, marking the first financial transaction since Kazakhstan removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations in late 2023. Ghazanfar Bank, one of Afghanistan’s largest commercial banks, opened a correspondent account with Zaman Bank to enable direct payments between the two countries.
As of June 1, Zaman Bank’s total profit for 2025 stood at nearly $7 million. Despite the May downturn, the bank had remained consistently profitable throughout the year. Last year, it oscillated between profit and loss, ending 2024 with a modest annual profit of $435,000. The final four months of 2024 saw the bank posting average monthly losses of about $420,000. In 2023, the bank also reported losses for five consecutive months, including a two-month period during which it incurred more than $2 million in losses.
Zaman Bank ranks last in total assets among all banks listed in the National Bank’s reports, with assets totaling approximately $68 million. Its primary shareholders are members of the Abguzhinov family: brothers Tasbulat and Bekbolat Abguzhinov, along with Tasbulat’s son Alan.
Notably, despite its volatility, Zaman Bank was one of the leaders in net profit growth in percentage terms in 2024, alongside ADCB Kazakhstan, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
In May, the bank announced plans to launch an Islamic mortgage product by the end of 2025.
Following the landmark transaction last November, Zaman Bank was reportedly the only financial institution in Kazakhstan willing to engage with the Taliban. Other banks were said to be «still hesitating.»
