Central Asia fintech news
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Freedom Holding Completes Turkish Bank Acquisition, Launches Freedom Bank A.Ş. in Turkey
The NASDAQ-listed Kazakh company brings its SuperApp ecosystem model to the Turkish market.
Halyk Bank willing to run certain services at a loss to drive cross-sales
Kazakhstan’s largest bank is shifting its fee strategy, treating basic operations as an investment in long-term customer relationships and an entry point for selling complex financial instruments.
ARDFM plans to limit loan terms for smartphones and vacations
The Kazakh regulator believes loan repayment periods should match the purchase’s lifecycle
National Bank of Kazakhstan discusses real sector support measures with commercial banks
The regulator, the government, and the ARDFM met with market participants to coordinate economic lending and capital market development.
Eurasian Bank analyzes transactions: retail client spending peaks on Saturday
Payment behavior research shows how banks can use data to shift from mass mailings to personalized offers
Kazakhstan's foreign cashless payments grow 10-fold in six years
The share of cashless payments abroad reached 93%. Online purchases and smartphone transfers drove the growth, while POS terminal transactions began to decline.
Kazakhstan's Unified QR Exposes Bank Tariff Battle for Business
The universal payment system was supposed to free entrepreneurs from keeping multiple terminals at the checkout. In practice, the interbank service proved noticeably more expensive than the banks’ own QR solutions.
Kazakhstan's insurance market: Annuities accelerate amid rising mandatory insurance thresholds
Regulatory changes in Kazakhstan’s insurance sector have driven demand for annuity products and a market reassessment.
ARDFM tightens rules for MFIs and debt collectors: a new wave of regulatory reform
The Kazakh regulator continues to tighten requirements for microfinance organizations and debt collection companies.
Freedom Bank agrees to integrate QR payments with China's Weixin Pay
Freedom SuperApp users will be able to pay for purchases in China by scanning local QR codes. The bank signed a memorandum with the TenPay Global platform.
Kazakhstan becomes a founding member of the World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO)
The republic joins 28 countries to develop global rules for neural network governance. For the financial sector, this is a step toward clear standards in scoring and anti-fraud.
National Bank of Kazakhstan launches in-house AI platform and GPU cluster for supervision and analytics
The central bank deployed proprietary AI infrastructure to monitor the financial system.