Starting January 10, 2027, commercial banks in Uzbekistan will not be able to deduct money from clients’ cards to repay loans and guarantee obligations if the account balance drops below 680,000 soums—half the minimum wage. The Central Bank introduced the rule in a resolution registered by the Ministry of Justice and published on October 10, 2026, Gazeta.uz reports.
The actual text of the resolution was not available on the Central Bank’s official website (cbu.uz) at the time of publication. The facts in this article are verified against three independent summaries of the document—Gazeta.uz, Podrobno.uz, and Kursiv.media—whose key parameters match.
What the resolution bans
The document amends existing rules for interacting with financial service consumers. The logic is simple: if a bank deducts a loan payment automatically, without a separate client order, it can no longer take everything down to zero. The account must retain at least 680,000 soums, given the current minimum wage of 1.36 million soums, Gazeta.uz notes.
Podrobno.uz highlights a specific detail: the limit applies to the total balance across all of a client’s cards in the bank, not just a single card. Spreading money across multiple cards to bypass the rule will not work, as the bank will calculate the total amount.
The rule only covers deductions for loans and guarantee agreements processed without a separate client order. Payments initiated by the person, such as early repayment through an app, do not fall under the restriction.
The document takes effect three months after publication, meaning January 10, 2027, Kursiv.media notes, citing the text registered with the Ministry of Justice.
Why the regulator is introducing a minimum
The 680,000 soums represent money for food and essential goods that a person should have left after the bank takes a loan payment. Essentially, it is a floor below which automatic deductions cannot drop a borrower’s balance, regardless of the debt amount.
The decision does not come out of nowhere. As Gazeta.uz reports, citing Central Bank data, bank loans accounted for 93% of the Uzbekistan population’s debt obligations in 2025. The regulator previously noted the growing debt burden on households and expressed concern about borrowers’ ability to service their debts.
The rule does not change loan issuance conditions. It defines the minimum that must remain with the borrower after each automatic payment.
Discrepancy with the Uzcard rule
In April 2026, the payment system Uzcard, operator of one of Uzbekistan’s two national card networks alongside Humo, announced a minimum required balance for automatic deductions. However, Uzcard set the limit at 3 BRV (base calculating amounts), or about 1.32 million soums—nearly double the Central Bank’s new 680,000-soum standard.
Available sources do not explain how these two rules align: whether the Central Bank resolution replaces Uzcard’s April initiative, if they operate in parallel for different types of transactions, or if they rely on different legal grounds. Gazeta.uz, Podrobno.uz, and Kursiv.media do not comment on this point.
What this means for banks
Based on press summaries, the resolution does not detail the technical means banks must use to check the total balance, whether they need to change APIs, or if they must introduce separate notifications to clients about partial deductions. Sources simply state the rule: the minimum is calculated based on the combined balance across all of the client’s cards in the bank, not a single card. How exactly banks will technically implement this requirement by January 2027 remains unannounced.
The regulator is not capping the interest rate or the debt amount, but rather the bottom line: the minimum a person must have left to live on after a loan payment is deducted.
