The parent company of Georgia’s Bank of Georgia plans to enter Central Asian financial markets. Lion Finance Group CEO Archil Gachechiladze told Bloomberg the investor is interested in acquiring top-five local players.
Banks in the top three of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are the priority, though financial institutions up to fifth place are also under consideration. A Telegram channel reported this, citing the agency’s publication. Specific participants in potential talks have not been officially disclosed.
Lion Finance Group is a British public company with a market capitalization of about $7.9 billion. The holding joined the FTSE 100 index in March 2026. The group already has regional expansion experience: in 2024, it acquired Armenia’s Ameriabank for approximately $303.6 million.
At the end of 2025, Bank of Georgia’s assets stood at $16 billion. This accounts for 39.5% of the Georgian banking sector’s total assets.
For comparison, according to National Bank data for August 2026, Kazakhstan’s market leader Halyk Bank manages 21.4 trillion tenge in assets. The Georgian investor’s assets are comparable to Bank CenterCredit, which currently rounds out Kazakhstan’s top three with 8.9 trillion tenge in assets. Following them in Kazakhstan’s top five are ForteBank, which is actively growing its corporate portfolio and previously attracted 157.8 billion tenge in corporate deposits in a month, and Alatau City Bank.
In Uzbekistan, the holding is also targeting leading market players. Interest in the region coincides with regulatory changes: in August 2025, Kazakhstan lowered the asset threshold for opening foreign bank subsidiaries and branches from $20 billion to $10 billion.
The stated focus on the top five indicates the investor’s interest in established portfolios and systemic market share, echoing the group’s recent strategy in Armenia.
