Every event in Central Asia's fintech market — briefly, with a link to the source. Analysis and explainers are in our news.
The Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and the National Bank of Georgia have signed a memorandum of understanding on mutual access and recognition in financial services.
Source: t.me/aifc_officialStarting September 9, Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) published on its website the results of an external screening of shares for compliance with Islamic investing principles.
Source: t.me/KASEofficialIn the second quarter of 2026, Kazakhstani banks recorded growing loan demand from large and medium-sized businesses, the National Bank reported based on a survey of lending institutions.
Source: nationalbank.kzFitch Ratings has affirmed the ratings of Kazakhstan's platform Kaspi.kz and Kaspi Bank at BBB− with a stable outlook.
Source: profit.kzKazakhstani banks increased executive compensation, according to disclosures as of late summer 2026. Halyk Bank paid the largest amount at 4.5 billion tenge, followed by Bank RBK with 3.9 billion tenge and ForteBank with 1.9 billion tenge.
Source: kapital.kzThe Analytical Center of the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan released an auto lending review for the first half of 2026, recording a 9% year-on-year drop in applications alongside a weighted average interest rate surge from 18.8% to 24.4%.
Source: kapital.kzKazakhstan's Nurbank has changed its standard tariffs and announced the closure of inactive customer current accounts.
Source: nurbank.kzKazakhstan's National Certification Authority has released an update to the NCALayer app, adding CAdES, XAdES, and PAdES digital signature formats, including the option to place a visible signature directly on PDF documents.
Source: profit.kzKazakhstan's Halyk Bank has scrapped bonus accruals for card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay payments, now awarding bonuses exclusively for QR-code payments made via the bank's app.
Source: t.me/nb_kzKazakhstan-based exchange ITS has launched its Prediction Market platform, enabling users to trade options based on the probability of specific events.
Source: t.me/nb_kzThe weighted average dollar rate dropped from 456.56 to 454.31 tenge on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange at the start of the trading week on September 8.
Source: inbusiness.kzThe National Anti-Fraud Center, established under the National Payment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, has processed over 180,000 incidents in its two years of operation, with fraud accounting for 78% of cases.
Source: npck.kzKazakhstan Stock Exchange KASE has launched trading in three cryptocurrency ETFs under a regulatory sandbox project involving 13 exchange member brokers.
Source: t.me/KASEofficialInternational ratings agency S&P Global Ratings has upgraded the long-term credit rating of Kazakhstan's Bank CenterCredit from BB to BB+, affirmed its short-term rating at B, and raised its national scale rating from kzAA- to kzAA+.
Source: inbusiness.kzOn September 7, amendments to Kazakhstan's Social Code took effect, allowing UAPF contributors to transfer up to 100% of their pension savings to private investment portfolio managers, removing the previous cap.
Source: kapital.kzInternational rating agency S&P Global Ratings has revised its outlook on the long-term credit ratings of Kazakhstan's Freedom Bank Kazakhstan JSC to positive from stable, affirming the ratings at "BB-/B".
Source: kapital.kzMortgage applications in Kazakhstan fell 13.4% year-on-year to 419,200 in the first half of 2026, according to a review by the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan.
Source: kapital.kzS&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on Kazakhstan's Nurbank from Stable to Positive, affirming its long-term credit rating at 'B'.
Source: t.me/bull_bellKaspi.kz updated its interbank transfer fees: sending money from Kaspi Gold to a card of another Kazakhstani bank now incurs a 0.95% fee, with a minimum charge of 200 tenge.
Source: digitalbusiness.kzAstana regulator AFSA has identified a fraudulent website, atlaslimited.capital, impersonating the licensed AIFC-registered firm Atlas Capital Limited.
Source: afsa.aifc.kzS&P Global Ratings has upgraded its country risk assessment for Kazakhstan's banking sector: the "industry risk" component was raised from group "7" to "6", and the "economic risk" outlook was revised from "stable" to "positive".
Source: kapital.kzTrading volume in Solidcore shares on the alternative exchange AIX exceeded the total trading volume on Kazakhstan's KASE exchange.
Source: t.me/finmentorkzMoody's Ratings has assigned Kazakhstan life insurer Freedom Life an insurance financial strength rating of Baa3 with a stable outlook, marking the insurer's first investment-grade rating.
Source: kz.kursiv.mediaIn the first half of 2026, small business financing in Kazakhstan increased by 21.2% to 4.6 trillion tenge, medium business financing rose by 56.2% to 1.9 trillion tenge, and large business financing grew by 10.5% to 4.9 trillion tenge, according to the Financing and Lending Agency (AFK).
Source: t.me/qara_aqquStarting September 7, 2026, the interest rate on the AQYL educational savings deposit at Otbasy Bank will be 13.4 percent per annum, with an effective annual rate (AER) starting from 14.25 percent.
Source: tengrinews.kzInternational rating agency S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on the long-term credit ratings of Kazakhstan-based Freedom Holding Corp and four of its key subsidiaries from stable to positive.
Source: t.me/FREEDOMFINANCEKAZAKHSTANThe Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and the Association of Islamic Finance and Business (AIFB) have signed a memorandum of cooperation covering Islamic finance and the capital market.
Source: t.me/KASEofficialAlaqan Group Limited is demanding that Kaspi Bank be barred from using the name Kaspi Alaqan for its palm-payment service, citing an earlier registration of the Alaqan trademark.
Source: t.me/bull_bellThe National Bank of Kazakhstan has revised its 2027 inflation forecast upward from 5.5–7.5% to 6.5–8.5% due to rising external inflation, revised assumptions for regulated prices, and a stronger fiscal impulse.
Source: t.me/nb_kzThe Monetary Policy Committee of the National Bank of Kazakhstan has set the base rate at 16.25% per annum with an interest rate corridor of +/- 1.0 percentage points.
Source: t.me/kdif_askKazakhstani insurance company Halyk-Life has received a 65.1 million tenge tranche for the first half of 2026 from the operator of the State Educational Savings System, which will be credited to educational insurance policies within five days.
Source: kapital.kzAkmaral Moldalieva from Aktau has become the first Kazakhstani woman to receive a 20.3 million tenge loan under Otbasy Bank's Umai women's mortgage program to buy a two-room apartment.
Source: kz.kursiv.mediaKazakhstan's ForteBank and developer BI Group have signed a cooperation memorandum and launched a mortgage program for primary market homebuyers, featuring a down payment starting at 20% and loan amounts from 5 million to 100 million tenge.
Source: t.me/finmentorkzIn July 2026, Kazakh banks issued 3.8 trillion tenge in new loans, up 10.7% from July 2025, according to the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market.
Source: kapital.kzKazakhstan's financial consumer protection agency reviewed 15,100 complaints between the start of the year and August 1, 2026.
Source: t.me/finregkzThe loan portfolio of Kazakh microfinance organizations, pawnshops, and credit partnerships shrank by 0.6% to 3.1 trillion tenge in the second quarter of 2026.
Source: kapital.kzAs of August 1, 2026, corporate deposits in Kazakhstani banks totaled 21.1 trillion tenge, up by 559.2 billion tenge in July.
Source: ranking.kzAstana regulator AFSA has issued a public warning about scammers impersonating Venera Capital Ltd., a Kazakh investment firm licensed by AFSA.
Source: afsa.aifc.kzKazakhstan's Bank CenterCredit has launched a buyback program for 6.8 million of its own shares at 4,399 tenge each — 8% below the current market price of 4,780 tenge — running through the end of 2026.
Source: t.me/nb_kzKazakhstan's Unified Accumulative Pension Fund stopped accepting new applications to transfer pension assets to Halyk Global Markets on January 1, 2026, after the manager gave notice to terminate its contract from January 1, 2027.
Source: t.me/enpfkz
