Key management personnel across Kazakhstan’s commercial banks saw dramatic shifts in compensation driven by corporate restructuring, deferred bonus accounting, and equity-based incentive programs.
Recognized executive compensation expenses in annual audited financial statements do not always reflect actual cash paid during the reporting period, as long-term incentive plans, deferred bonuses, and equity grants spread payments across multiple financial years.
Bank RBK leads sector in executive pay
Executive board members at Bank RBK ranked as the highest-paid in the sector, earning an average gross monthly salary of 64.2 million tenge (about $125,000). With five members on the board, individual monthly earnings for the chairman could reach 100 million tenge, reflecting long-standing shareholder appreciation for the management team navigating the lender following its 2017 default. Halyk Bank executives ranked second, taking home an average of 42.5 million tenge monthly.
Across the industry, executive compensation ranges widely, accounting for between 0.3% and 22.8% of total personnel expenses. Fintech group Kaspi.kz reported the lowest ratio of executive pay to both total payroll, at 0.3%, and net profit, at 0.06%. In contrast, Bank RBK allocated 16.4% of its overall payroll to top management.
Stock packages and golden parachutes drive spikes
While Kaspi.kz saw its recognized stock-based compensation expenses drop sharply, regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show executives successfully liquidated stock options. In August 2026, Kaspi.kz deputy chairman Yuri Didenko sold 50,000 American depositary shares for $4.9 million, earned through an employee stock ownership plan.
Mergers and corporate leadership changes also created temporary compensation spikes through severance packages. Home Credit Bank recorded a 350% surge in average monthly executive board pay to 36.6 million tenge following its acquisition by ForteBank, driven by severance packages paid to outgoing leadership hired under previous owner PPF Group. Alatau City Bank similarly recorded elevated severance payouts after transitioning to new ownership under Vyacheslav Kim.
Leadership shifts alter board compensation
Board of directors compensation also fluctuated significantly across institutions. Halyk Bank paid its board members an average of 24.4 million tenge monthly, a surge linked to the departure of independent chairman Aleksandr Pavlov after 21 years of service. Conversely, Eurasian Bank saw board compensation drop 70% to 6.3 million tenge monthly following the death of longtime chairman Alexander Mashkevich amidst an ongoing shareholder dispute.
