Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan announced three separate projects this week to simplify overseas payments and settlements. The National Bank of Kazakhstan acted as an issuer of digital financial assets for the first time, placing tokenized notes on the KASE exchange. In weekly figures: the loan portfolio of Kazakh banks grew by nearly 500 billion tenge in September, and Uzbekistan’s international reserves dropped by almost $3 billion in October.
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Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan open direct channels for overseas settlements
The Elkart national payment system and Mastercard signed a memorandum on November 13 to develop digital payments, fintech, and cybersecurity. Mastercard’s General Director for Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, Sanzhar Zhamalov, and the Chairman of the Interbank Processing Center (Elkart’s operator), Altymysh Turatbekov, signed the document. The first joint project will be the Elkart-Mastercard co-badged card: it will operate domestically via Elkart’s infrastructure and internationally through Mastercard’s network of over 200 million merchant locations. This card physically and technically combines two payment systems on one account, eliminating the need for a separate product for foreign payments. The integration, as reported by Elkart, will cover over 3.2 million cards already issued by the country’s commercial banks. Cardholders will be able to link their cards to Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Garmin Pay, with funds debited from their existing Elkart accounts to pay for purchases in foreign stores and websites, book hotels, and buy airline tickets.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank integrated the MoneyGram international transfer service into the Halyk SuperApp. Transfers became available to the bank’s clients 24/7 to more than 200 countries and territories, including Turkey, the US, Georgia, Germany, and China. Users can send funds in dollars or euros, and the recipient does not need a Halyk account to collect the money—they can pick up cash or receive the transfer to a bank account or digital wallet. The commission is 0.5% of the amount and is displayed before confirming the transaction. Users can send up to $9,999 or €7,000 at a time, with up to two transfers allowed per day. Funds can reach the recipient in minutes, depending on the country and payout method.
The third episode of the week came from Tajikistan: Orienbank and UniCredit Bank agreed to open direct correspondent accounts for cross-border settlements and trade finance. The agreement was reached at a meeting of bank executives on November 10 in Dushanbe. A correspondent account is an account one bank opens with another to process settlements directly, bypassing intermediary banks; the parties state this reduces time and costs for corporate clients. In addition to opening accounts, the banks discussed developing trade finance to support export-import contracts and expanding foreign exchange trading. Orienbank noted that the partnership opens direct settlement channels with CIS and European countries.
National Bank of Kazakhstan issues tokenized notes on KASE for the first time
The National Bank of Kazakhstan acted as an issuer of digital financial assets and held an auction on November 9 to place short-term notes in tokenized form on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange platform. According to inbusiness.kz, cited by our report, investors were offered 50 billion tenge in securities, with 10 billion tenge allocated directly to tokenized notes. Tokenization in this case means the right to the security is recorded not only in a traditional registry but also on the exchange’s digital platform. The auction’s unique feature was that notes from the same issue were offered to investors simultaneously in two formats—traditional and tokenized—allowing buyers to choose how their rights were recorded. The weighted average yield was 15.72% per annum, the notes have a 91-day circulation period, and settlements and trading began on November 11. Total demand at the auction reached 70.2 billion tenge, exceeding the offered volume by 1.4 times. The KASE Clearing Centre handles clearing and settlements for the transaction, while holder rights are recorded on the exchange platform and additionally reflected in the Central Securities Depository’s registry system. Finteqstan previously covered this placement as the event of the week.
Kazakhstan’s bank loan portfolio grows by 500 billion tenge in September
At the end of September 2026, the total loan portfolio of Kazakhstan’s banks increased by 1.1%, or nearly 500 billion tenge—one of the most significant monthly gains since the start of the year. All main segments showed growth: loans to non-financial legal entities added 0.6% to reach 17.4 trillion tenge, loans to financial legal entities jumped 13.3% to 1.5 trillion tenge, and retail loans increased by 0.7% to 26.7 trillion tenge. Only 12 of the 23 active second-tier banks managed to grow their portfolios; the rest either stagnated or reduced their issuance volumes. RBK Bank led the growth rate, expanding its portfolio by 5.4% to 1.8 trillion tenge, followed by Alatau City Bank (up 5.1% to 1.3 trillion tenge) and ForteBank (up 2.5% to 3.2 trillion tenge). Year-on-year, the banking sector’s total portfolio grew by 12.4%, or 5.2 trillion tenge.
Remittances to Uzbekistan rise to $15.17 billion in nine months
Uzbekistan received $15.17 billion in remittances during the first nine months of 2026, up 8.9% from the same period in 2025, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan reported. Most of the $1.24 billion increase occurred in the first half of the year, when transfers grew 13% year-on-year; the pace slowed to 2.9% in the third quarter. Outbound transfers from the country totaled $1.95 billion, compared to $1.93 billion a year earlier. Russia remains the largest labor market for Uzbek citizens, although its share of remittances fell from 77.6% in the first quarter of 2025 to 72.4% in the first quarter of 2026: transfers from Russia grew by 8.8% in the first half of the year, even though Uzbek citizens made 13.2% fewer trips to Russia for work. At the same time, Uzbekistan is expanding employment opportunities for its citizens in other countries: in the first half of 2026, remittances from the UK grew by 62%, from EU countries by 27%, and from the US by 19%.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (Kazakhstan) receives universal and Islamic banking licenses
Madina Abylkassymova, Chairperson of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, presented Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (Kazakhstan) with a universal banking license and a license to conduct Islamic banking operations. The ceremony took place during the Congress of Financiers of Kazakhstan, as reported by the regulator’s Telegram channel @finregkz. The universal license allows the bank to conduct a full range of traditional banking operations, while the separate Islamic operations license permits it to offer Sharia-compliant products, meaning no fixed interest is charged.
By Country
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
- Payments. The volume of cashless payments made with Kazakh cards abroad in January–September 2026 reached 3.8 trillion tenge, up 13.3% year-on-year, while the total volume of all transactions with Kazakh cards abroad hit 4 trillion tenge (up 10.5%). Cash withdrawals dropped 18.9% to 262.4 billion tenge, and the share of cashless payments in foreign turnover rose from 91.1% to 93.5%. Internet and mobile payments reached 2.3 trillion tenge (up 25.6%) and now account for 61.3% of all foreign cashless payments, while POS terminal transactions fell 1% to 1.3 trillion tenge. Separately, Halyk Bank launched the “Avans Online” service: employees of companies connected to the bank’s payroll project can receive up to 50% of their salary ahead of schedule via the Halyk SuperApp. The service carries no commission for the employee and does not affect their credit history, as it is a payout of already earned money rather than a loan. The employer pays the transfer fee, and companies can connect to the service if they have a bank account, Onlinebank registration, and 1C. The Kaspi Alaqan biometric palm payment service marked its first anniversary with 2 million registered clients and availability at 22,000 retail locations nationwide.
- Regulation. The National Bank of Kazakhstan warned of an increase in fraud: scammers are sending fake letters purportedly from the regulator, offering to transfer money for its “safe return” or under the guise of registering transfers. They use the bank’s letterhead and pose as employees of the NBK or the Financial Monitoring Agency. The bank reminded the public that it does not service individual accounts, declare funds, conduct settlements with the public, or correspond with citizens via messengers, email, or social media. The regulator advises anyone encountering fraud to contact law enforcement or its call center at 1477. According to profit.kz, starting November 17, employers will be able to calculate payroll taxes and social payments in the “Taxpayer Cabinet” web application under the “One-Click Calculation” pilot project. The pilot covers tax obligations for the fourth quarter (October 1 – December 31, 2026). Tax agents can enter an employee’s IIN and income amount to receive an automatic calculation of individual income tax, mandatory pension contributions, social deductions, and other payments. The system retrieves the employee’s social status data from the Ministry of Labor’s information systems. If obligations are fully met through the service, form 200.00 is not required. Participation is voluntary for tax agents. The National Bank is also drafting a resolution on minimum reserve requirements and reporting—the standard requires banks to hold a portion of attracted funds in reserves at the central bank.
- Capital Markets. S&P Global Ratings upgraded Freedom Finance Insurance’s rating from “BB-” to “BB” with a “Stable” outlook. Over four years, the insurer climbed from 11th to 3rd place among Kazakh companies, its market share grew from 2.1% to 9.7%, and for the first nine months of 2026, net profit totaled 9.1 billion tenge. Return on equity stood at 27%, the combined ratio was 86.3% (a value below 100% means the company’s underwriting operations are profitable without factoring in investment income), and capital increased to $110 million (52 billion tenge), up from $69 million in 2025. S&P views the company as a strategically important subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp, though the rating remains in the speculative category, below investment grade. Kazakh investment firm Teniz Capital Investment Banking became a new participant on the KASE digital financial assets platform. The company provides business fundraising services, assists with IPOs, and offers brokerage and consulting services. All transactions on the DFA platform occur under National Bank supervision. The AIX exchange celebrated its eighth anniversary: since the start of 2026, trading volume has reached $2.24 billion, and since its founding, $18.3 billion in capital has been raised through AIX. Of that, $6.9 billion was raised this year, 41% more than in all of 2025. The exchange has 70 trading members, and as of November 12, the AIX Official List includes 441 securities, with 146 new listings this year.
- Deals. ForteBank and the Eurasian Development Bank signed a memorandum on co-financing investment projects in Kazakhstan, including syndicated lending opportunities—pooling resources from multiple banks to finance a single large project. The signing took place on November 11 in Abu Dhabi during an event marking the launch of the EDB office in the Abu Dhabi Global Market. The banks previously participated together in syndicated financing for the development of Almaty International Airport.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
- Deposits and Reserves. According to spot.uz, at the end of September, the average yield on soum deposits stood at 17.2%, down 2.1 percentage points year-on-year and 1.7 points since the start of the year. Yields on deposits up to one year fell to 14.2% (3.4 points lower than last year), and long-term deposits dropped to 18.1% (down 1.7 points). Retail deposits are offered at an average of 18.4%—nearly 3 points below last year’s level. Meanwhile, foreign currency deposit yields fell to 4.4% after spiking to 5.5% in September, and business foreign currency deposits dropped to 2.8%. As of November 1, Uzbekistan’s international reserves totaled $63.62 billion, dropping by $2.96 billion in October—the lowest since the start of the year. The main decline hit gold reserves: their value fell to $58.04 billion (down $2.04 billion), even though the physical volume of gold increased to 454.1 tons. The value dropped due to global precious metal prices falling by more than $200 per troy ounce over the month. The foreign currency portion of the reserves shrank to $5.01 billion (down 15.5%), hitting a low for the period data has been published, while the value of foreign securities fell 32% to $1.148 billion.
- Banks. Ipoteka Bank OTP Group reported its results for the first nine months of 2026, posting a net profit of 1.8 trillion soums—56% higher than last year. The bank’s total assets reached 57.9 trillion soums, capital stood at 10.1 trillion soums, and operating profit grew 39% to 2.2 trillion soums. In terms of service quality, the bank recorded a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 74%, while Mystery Shopping checks scored 93% and Mystery Calling scored 92.7% (both methods involve anonymous service quality checks by secret “shoppers” or “callers”).
- Regulation. The Banking Supervision Committee of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan imposed penalties on eight credit institutions in October for violating legislation and prudential standards. Six banks and two microfinance organizations received fines, while one bank and one MFO received warnings. In total, the Committee held six meetings and reviewed 43 issues, including registration and licensing procedures and the financial condition of credit and payment organizations. The Central Bank also published a draft of its Monetary Policy Guidelines for 2027–2029 for public discussion, featuring economic forecasts, inflation reduction measures, and policy priorities. Comments and suggestions can be sent to sinogamov@cbu.uz until November 16.
- Insurance. Insurance premiums in Uzbekistan reached 12.5 trillion soums in the first nine months of 2026, growing 27.3% year-on-year. Insurers’ authorized capital totaled 4.5 trillion soums (up 23.1%), and the number of concluded contracts hit 9.6 million (up 6.7%). Insurance payouts surged 68.3% to 3.2 trillion soums, with 3.1 trillion coming from general insurance and 161.9 billion from life insurance. The payout-to-premium ratio was 25.8%, and premiums per capita stood at 315,300 soums. The market has 36 licensed insurance organizations: 28 in general insurance, 7 in life insurance, and 1 company exclusively handling reinsurance.
- Capital Markets. The Tashkent Republican Stock Exchange announced the introduction of a new line of UPI indices. The National Agency for Perspective Projects also reissued an investment intermediary license to HYT-CAPITAL, issued a crypto shop license to C-STORE, and revoked the investment intermediary license of DILARES at the company’s own request.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
- Neobanks. MBank raised the expected yield on its Mudarabah Islamic deposit to 14.11% per annum. The placement term is up to 36 months, and the deposit is available in the MIslamic app—MBank’s Islamic digital bank operating under NBKR license No. 014/1. Mudarabah is an Islamic finance instrument where the bank and the depositor share the investment income instead of a fixed interest rate. The product is approved by the bank’s Sharia Board, expected income is paid monthly, and accounts can be opened via the app or at a branch.
- Supervision. The Supervision Committee of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic suspended two licenses held by Flash Pay for three months starting November 10: one for accepting and processing payments and settlements for goods and services in favor of third parties, and another for processing and clearing payments for payment system participants. Both suspensions were for violating the regulator’s laws and regulations. The same Committee fined a payment organization 1,454,804.68 soms for violations related to automated systems operations, transaction data security, and customer verification procedures for international electronic transfers. The National Bank separately fined an unnamed commercial bank 65,000 soms for consumer lending violations, fined an exchange bureau in the Jalal-Abad region 55,000 soms, and suspended the license of the Satykey Finance exchange bureau and its branches in the Chui and Talas regions and Bishkek for 10 days, from November 12 to 21. The regulator also announced an open competition for artists and designers to create draft designs for national currency collector coins.
- International Cooperation. The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic signed a memorandum with Crystal Intelligence to cooperate on training specialists in virtual assets and blockchain analytics. NBKR Board Member Abdygaziev signed the document on November 10. A delegation from the National Bank of Tajikistan, led by Deputy Chairman Ziyoratsho Gulomzoda, held meetings with NBKR leadership on November 9–10 to discuss banking sector development, payment system supervision, digital financial technology implementation, and national payment infrastructure modernization. Finteqstan previously reported that central banks from five countries agreed to explore integrating their QR payment systems. On November 12, an International Monetary Fund mission began work in the Kyrgyz Republic. The visit lays the groundwork for Article IV consultations scheduled for spring 2027. On its first day, the mission met with NBKR Chairman A.K. Baketaev to discuss economic trends and monetary policy measures. According to 24.kg, a draft cabinet resolution was submitted for discussion to increase the maximum concessional loan amount for regional entrepreneurs from 20 million to 30 million soms under the “Economic Development of the Regions of the Kyrgyz Republic” project. The loans are intended for tourism, light industry, manufacturing, healthcare, education, energy, agriculture, and services. To start a new business, applicants must confirm their own funds cover at least 30% of the loan amount, or 10% to expand an existing business. The maximum loan term is 10 years, with a grace period of up to 12 months.
- Remittances. The total volume of remittances to Kyrgyzstan in September 2026 stood at $274.1 million, with $250.8 million coming from CIS countries and $23.3 million from non-CIS countries. Remittances from Kyrgyzstan in September totaled $9.4 million: $3.3 million to CIS countries and $6.0 million to non-CIS countries.
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
- Payments. The Azerbaijani platform Bir, which combines e-commerce, banking services, and payments, partnered with the CineMastercard cinema chain to integrate ticket booking into the Bir mobile app, finextra.com reported.
On the Radar
- November 16 is the deadline for comments on Uzbekistan’s draft Monetary Policy Guidelines for 2027–2029. Suggestions are accepted at sinogamov@cbu.uz.
- On November 17, access to payroll tax calculation in the “Taxpayer Cabinet” web application launches in Kazakhstan under the “One-Click Calculation” pilot, which runs until December 31, 2026.
- On November 21, the license suspension for the Satykey Finance exchange bureau in Kyrgyzstan expires.
- In spring 2027, IMF Article IV consultations with the Kyrgyz Republic are scheduled, prepared by the fund’s mission that began on November 12.
