Kazakhstan

As a fully state-owned bank with a quasi-sovereign status, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) has a unique role given its focus on lending to strategic investment projects and implementing the state’s industrialization programme.

Under Damir Kakiev, managing director of small business, Alfa Bank has built its SME franchise rapidly. Its market share was roughly 7% in 2019, whereas four years ago it had almost no presence in that segment.

Home Credit’s move about two-and-a-half years ago to put more emphasis on its digital banking offering paid off in 2020, when Kazakhstan was hit by an emergency lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the country’s population was forced to transition to banking remotely.

Citi proved yet again that it is the international bank of choice for Kazakh companies which want to gain a foothold outside the country.

Halyk Bank has its fingers in several pies, from retail and SME banking to insurance and asset management, and is a long-established leader across different parts of the financial markets. It is not just the Central Asian country’s biggest bank by assets, but also ranks top in terms of deposits, net loans and net income.

When Guram Andronikashvili, chief executive of ForteBank, and his team decided to call their strategy for the year ‘Change 2020’, they had little idea just how much things really would change. Covid-19 struck early in the year, triggering an emergency lockdown in Kazakhstan and leaving banks in the country scrambling to find a way to continue doing business.

Kaspi.kz is Kazakhstan’s most exciting technology company, its most ambitious bank and perhaps its next international export, but rivals think they have figured out its secrets.

The government has big ambitions when it comes to the financial sector, but a second stock exchange, launched as part of a bold plan to turn the country into a Dubai on the Steppes, is a big ask when it comes to developing the nation’s capital markets.