Freedom Holding Corp. has announced the appointment of Valeriy Kim as its chief financial officer (CFO). He previously served as vice president of finance at Freedom Holding Corp. and chief executive officer of Freedom Holding Operations LLP, a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp. Kim assumes the role from Evgeny Ler,…
Kazakhstan’s Senate has approved amendments that would allow citizens to transfer up to 100% of their pension savings to private asset management companies for trust management. Under current rules, contributors may transfer no more than 50% of their pension assets to private managers. The changes were announced by MP Askhat…
By the end of this year, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Finance plans to issue up to $1.5 billion in Eurobonds and $500 million in yen-denominated bonds, according to Reuters, citing Finance Minister Madi Takiyev. «Our target is anywhere from $1 billion to $1.5 billion. We want to raise it in London.…
The days when domestic banks routinely posted record profits are over. Today, they are essentially competing to see which institution has suffered the least in the new operating environment. Kursiv Research examined how the income and expense structures of individual second-tier banks have changed to determine which business models are…
In its macroeconomic forecast for 2026-2028, the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) said it expects the average exchange rate this year to be 490 tenge per U.S. dollar. According to the forecast, the rate could reach 500 tenge per dollar by year-end. Read also: How the Iran conflict will drive the…
According to the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK), after several years of strong growth, the auto-lending market is slowing. In its Q1 car loan survey, the AFK reported that demand for car loans fell 11% year-on-year (YoY), to 1.2 million applications, amid stricter lending conditions, tighter regulation and a…
Kazakhstani banks are changing their funding structure. Deposits from Kazakhstani residents now account for 80% of funding, while foreign borrowing has reached $10 billion. According to Madina Abylkassymova, head of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM), banks have written off stressed assets totaling $14.3 billion,…
Kazakhstan’s National Bank does not support the idea of raising taxes on people who own multiple apartments, arguing that the government should focus on taxing profits from real estate sales rather than imposing additional taxes on property ownership, according to the bank’s Governor Timur Suleimenov. Speaking at a briefing following…
The National Bank of Kazakhstan has cut its base rate to 17% for the first time since October 2025, bringing it below 18%. The decision was made at a Monetary Policy Committee meeting on June 5, 2026. The base rate will remain at 17% at least until the next National…
Kazakhstan’s banking sector increased deposits by 482 billion tenge ($1.03 billion) in April despite negative exchange-rate revaluation effects, primarily due to inflows from retail clients. The loan portfolio expanded by 316 billion tenge during the month. However, banks’ profits were 18.1% lower than in April 2025. Assets continue to grow…
Kazakhstan’s central bank is preparing sweeping changes to the country’s cryptocurrency market, ranging from a crypto amnesty to loans backed by digital assets. The plans were outlined by Binur Zhalenov, deputy chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, at the Solana Summit, according to Forbes Kazakhstan. National Bank to create…
Most analysts and market experts expect the National Bank of Kazakhstan to cut its base rate for the first time in nearly eight months. Forecasts from Freedom Broker, Halyk Finance, and the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK) all point to a rate reduction. Majority of experts expect a cut…
Freedom has launched Fan2Fan, a new service that marks its entry into the secondary ticket market. According to Yerlan Yessimseitov, executive director of Freedom Lifestyle Group, the platform is designed to facilitate secure ticket resales between users. More broadly, the initiative aims to bring transparency to the largely unregulated resale…
Central Asian countries continue to expand their international reserves, with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan increasingly relying on gold as a key reserve asset. According to a recent review by Halyk Finance, Kazakhstan’s international reserves reached $67.8 billion in April, while Uzbekistan’s climbed to $70.9 billion. The main drivers of this…
For Kazakhstan’s SME sector, the end of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 marked a period of adaptation not only to tight monetary conditions, but also to a series of fiscal and regulatory changes. On one hand, business activity was constrained by high borrowing costs as inflationary pressures persisted.…
We’re accustomed to teaching financial literacy to children, but older adults need it just as much. For retirees, financial literacy is not only about saving money — it’s also about security. Without basic financial skills, seniors can become easy targets for scammers. Here’s how to help older relatives understand the…
The PPF Group, owned by Renáta Kellnerová, the richest woman in the Czech Republic, and her daughters, sold Home Credit Bank Kazakhstan and IT company HomeITTech for €436 million. However, in its 2025 financial statement, the group reported losses related to the transaction, according to the «Manual Economy» Telegram channel.…
Pension annuities and corporate accident insurance dominated Kazakhstan’s life insurance market in the first quarter of 2026. In the non-life segment, demand for voluntary personal insurance policies declined amid cooling retail lending. Read also: Kazakh regulator greenlights insurance companies to establish marketplaces. Assets in Kazakhstan’s insurance sector increased by 121…
The war involving Israel, the U.S. and Iran has prompted more countries to use the yuan in trade, including oil transactions, according to Madiyar Kenzhebulat, an economist at the BSR research group. These countries include Persian Gulf states that supply oil to China and purchase goods from Chinese manufacturers. Shift…
Georgia’s banking system expanded in 2025 with the addition of two new players from the microfinance sector. The total assets of the country’s second-tier banks exceeded 100% of GDP by the end of the year, while net profit reached a record 3.3 billion lari (about $1.2 billion). As Georgia’s largest…
Kazakhstan’s banking statistics for March reflected a 3.8% strengthening of the tenge. The sector also benefited from increased liquidity driven by an inflow of corporate deposits, allowing banks to partially restore assets to levels seen at the beginning of 2026. The loan portfolio fully recovered, although growth continued to be…
Kazakhstan’s public finances improved markedly in the first three months of 2026, with treasury revenues and expenditures executed almost in full. Notably, value-added tax (VAT) receipts surged 48.6% year over year, even though some payments were still taxed at the previous 12% rate (for fourth-quarter 2025 liabilities). In addition, authorities…
The National Bank of Kazakhstan may cut its base rate at its June meeting, according to Akylzhan Baimagambetov, deputy governor of the central bank. «A transition to a lower base rate is possible if inflation slows sustainably. Currently, the National Bank is closely monitoring the economic situation to make a…
Despite a broader global trend toward easing monetary policy, the start of 2026 introduced new uncertainty tied to the conflict in the Middle East. In response, central banks in the world’s largest economies have avoided firm forward guidance, preserving flexibility to react quickly to potential inflation shocks. Against this backdrop,…
