Zaman Bank, Kazakhstan’s Islamic bank, seeks to launch Halal installment plans on online marketplaces, Diar Smagulov, deputy chairman of the management board, said in an interview with Forbes Kazakhstan.
«Establishing a marketplace is very lengthy and expensive — it took Kaspi around 10 years. Instead, we will collaborate with existing marketplaces and offer them Halal installment plans. If the project succeeds, we may even enter global platforms like Amazon in the future,» Smagulov said.
In 2026, an updated law On Banks and Banking Activities comes into effect in Kazakhstan. It includes amendments that allow second-tier banks to establish Islamic windows — units that provide services in accordance with Sharia law, free of riba (interest). Previously, a separate bank needed to be established to work with Islamic financial instruments.
Smagulov noted that Zaman Bank still doesn’t have its own bank cards; however, the organization has recently joined the Mastercard network. Establishing its own card is planned within several months.
Notably, in November 2024, Zaman Bank became the first Kazakhstani bank to conduct transactions with Afghanistan after Kazakhstan removed the Taliban from its terrorist list. Kursiv.media reported on what is known about the bank and its owners.
According to Forbes Kazakhstan, the bank’s major shareholders are the brothers Tasbulat and Bekbolat Abguzhinov and Tasbulat’s son Alan.
Shops and banks offering Halal installment plans often use models in which the bank effectively purchases the goods and resells them to the customer at a fixed price in installments. The principal difference between this plan and conventional plans and loans is that there is no interest, which is prohibited in Islam. The cost of the installment plan is often already included in the price.
