ASTANA – Kazakhstan has emerged as a regional leader in digitizing financial services, ranking first in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) for e-government development. Cashless payments now account for 86% of all transactions, and mobile banking is used by more than 81% of the population – 11 percentage points higher than in Russia.
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Rapid growth has fueled a fourfold increase in fintech startups over the past five years, according to Marianna Danilina, the head of strategy, research, and analytics at the FinTech Association and author of the association’s FinTech FinEthics project.
“Advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, biometrics, mobile payments, and QR codes are being widely adopted in the country. Traditional banks are working closely with fintech startups to build ecosystems that integrate financial and non-financial services,” said Danilina.
She noted that Kazakhstan now matches Russia in several digitalization areas and surpasses it in some. In 2024, cashless payments reached 86% of all transactions in Kazakhstan, compared to 87% in Russia. The average Kazakh holds four bank cards, compared to three in Russia, and mobile banking usage stands at 82%, versus 70% in Russia. However, Russia leads in QR code adoption, with 33% of the population using the technology compared to 24% in Kazakhstan.
Digital payments and e-commerce are expanding rapidly, driven by strong government support, rising demand, and favorable regulation. The country operates a two-tier fintech oversight model. The National Bank manages monetary policy and core payment systems, while the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market focuses on competition and consumer protection.
Since 2018, Kazakhstan has run a regulatory sandbox allowing companies to test financial products without violating laws. It also adopted a Concept for the Development of Financial Technologies and Innovations to foster an innovation-friendly environment, stimulate market collaboration, and build supportive infrastructure.
Danilina highlighted that Kazakhstan is among the fastest-growing markets for digital financial services worldwide.
“The results are impressive. Opening a bank account online takes less than three minutes, loan approval takes under two minutes, and international money transfers are processed in under an hour. Around 78% of all payments and transfers go through Kaspi.kz and Halyk Bank, the country’s two largest commercial banks,” she said.
In 2023, Kazakhstan launched Open API and Open Banking projects, which process more than 320,000 requests and 1,920 automated tests daily. By 2025, these projects will expand to include corporate integrations and new fund transfer scenarios, with full implementation of product APIs expected by 2026.
The country is also piloting a digital tenge project, developing asset tokenization, and advancing its blockchain sector. It is embracing artificial intelligence, adopting an AI development concept for 2024-2029, creating its first open-source national language model, IrbisGPT, and building a large language model called KazLLM. More than 30% of financial market participants, especially banks, are using AI tools. Biometric technologies are also spreading, mainly to enhance digital public services.
“High digitalization rates and strong government support make Kazakhstan’s fintech market highly attractive to investors. Over the past five years, the number of fintech startups has quadrupled. Key growth areas include crypto assets, eKYC, AML, digital lending, and anti-fraud solutions. Fintech now accounts for 40% of all venture investments in the country,” said Danilina.
The article was originally published on FinTech & Retail website.