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,…
The Kaspi.kz app has introduced a new «split bill» feature that allows users to divide payments among multiple people after a shared order at a café or restaurant, according to Finratings. How it works The process is straightforward: one person pays the full bill using Kaspi QR. After the transaction,…
Despite the continued dominance of the state in Uzbekistan’s banking sector, private players — particularly young digital banks — are expanding more rapidly. The gradual denationalization of the economy is also expected to revive the local stock market, which currently lacks attractive instruments for investors. Assets of Uzbekistan’s credit institutions…
In March 2025, Kazakhstani banks reported a combined profit of $432.5 million, while the sector’s total profit for the first quarter reached $1.2 billion. Monthly profit fell by 5.8% year-on-year, while cumulative profit for the entire first quarter declined by 12%, according to the National Bank. The decline in profit…
Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, together with the National Bank, has approved new rules on biometric authentication. The regulation mandates verification through the Identification Data Exchange Center (IDEC) for banks, microfinance institutions and payment organizations. In addition to facial recognition, the rules allow the use…
Hungary’s OTP Bank sees Central Asia as one of its priority regions for business expansion and mergers and acquisitions, according to the group’s full-year 2025 results. The report highlights that the bank is prioritizing organic growth while continuing to pursue value-creating deals both across its current footprint and beyond. «Management…
According to Freedom Holding Corp. (FRHC) partner Vladimir Pochekuev, who also serves as chairman of the board of directors of Freedom Broker Global Markets (UAE) and Freedom Yatirim (Turkey), FRHC is considering acquiring a bank in Armenia. The key obstacle to this move is the relatively high cost of financial…
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) continues to help Kazakhstan attract private investment, diversify its economy and improve its infrastructure and financial systems, according to Lisa Kaestner, IFC director for Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. «Kazakhstan remains attractive for foreign investment due to its strategic location and resource base,» she told Kursiv.media,…
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of 90 billion tenge (about $173.6 million) to Kazakhstan’s Otbasy Bank to expand access to mortgages, particularly for women, and to support environmentally friendly housing finance. The funding is part of the «Promoting Inclusive and Green Housing Finance» project. Read also:…
Kazakhstan’s National Bank will consider lowering its base rate once inflation shows a sustained decline both month over month and year over year, and if forecasts are met, Governor Timur Suleimenov said. He noted that in the second quarter, the economy is expected to continue adjusting to the new Tax…
Profits at microfinance organizations (MFOs) in Kazakhstan fell by nearly half in 2025, while the volume of loans overdue by more than 30 days rose by more than a quarter. Read also: Kazakh banks face 2025 profit dip amid tax and reserve hikes. The sector has grown to a scale…
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), a full-service commercial bank from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has received permission from Kazakhstan’s Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) to establish a subsidiary bank in the country. ADCB is one of the largest banks in the UAE and holds…
Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s largest bank by assets, has not completed its planned acquisition of a 49% stake in Uzbek payment service Click within the expected timeframe, according to materials prepared for the bank’s upcoming annual general meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 23. Deal terms and timeline The bank announced…
