Financial Services - The Times Of Central Asia

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Foreign direct investment (FDI)

How Almaty and Astana Built Central Asia’s Deepest Business Ecosystem

Every region has cities that pull people and money toward them. New York, London, Dubai, and Singapore became places where ambitious people went to make careers, companies went to find talent, and investors went to put money to work. Once that concentration takes hold, it feeds on itself. More companies create more jobs, more talent attracts more companies, and banks, lawyers, consultants, airlines, schools and restaurants grow around them. Central Asia has developed its own version of that gravitational pull. Almaty has long been the region’s main commercial center and was Kazakhstan’s capital until 1997. It remains effectively tethered to Astana by intense passenger traffic and the constant movement of businesspeople, officials and professionals between the two cities. Astana has grown around government, international finance, technology and diplomacy. Together, they function as a two-city economic and political engine. The numbers explain much of this. The Times of Central Asia’s Central Asia Balance Sheet puts Kazakhstan at $306.2 billion of the five Central Asian economies combined $543.4 billion in GDP, or 56.4%. Its share of accumulated foreign investment is even larger. The Balance Sheet puts Central Asia’s inward foreign direct investment (FDI) stock at $235.6 billion at the end of 2025, of which Kazakhstan held $156.4 billion, or 66.4%. FDI stock represents capital accumulated over years rather than announced agreements or one unusually strong year of inflows. Almaty and Astana Play Different Roles Almaty accounted for 22.7% of Kazakhstan’s GDP in 2025 and Astana another 12.3%, putting their economies at roughly $69 billion and $38 billion respectively. Together they produced around $107 billion. Almaty is Kazakhstan’s main business and financial center. Kazakhstan’s largest banks, investment firms, multinational offices, lawyers, accountants and consultants are concentrated there. The Globalization and World Cities research network (GaWC) placed Almaty in its Gamma+ group in 2024, alongside Austin, Antwerp, and Kuwait City. GaWC bases the classification on the networks of major international business-service firms, offering a measure of how closely a city is connected to the global corporate economy. Consistent with that ranking, multinational companies have also chosen Almaty as a base for regional operations. Mars runs its eleven-country regional headquarters from Almaty, covering all five Central Asian states, the South Caucasus, Belarus, Mongolia, and Turkey. Mastercard describes Almaty as a regional hub and the heart of its consulting operations for the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is unusual in Central Asia in having two major hubs. In functional terms, Astana complements Almaty much as Washington D.C. complements New York: Almaty is the deeper commercial center, while Astana concentrates government, sovereign institutions, diplomacy, and national policy. Astana has also developed regional corporate operations of its own. Alstom runs its Western and Central Asia cluster from the capital, and Mercuria opened a regional office there in 2026 headed by its CEO for Central Asia and the Caspian region. U.S. rail company Wabtec has made Astana a regional locomotive production and engineering base, reinforced by its $4.2 billion agreement as Kazakhstan expands its Middle Corridor links to...

Banking

Uzbekistan Pitches Decades of Tax Breaks to Financial Firms

Uzbekistan is offering qualifying financial firms nearly half a century of tax exemptions to set up in Tashkent. The goal is to attract private capital into an economy where state-owned banks still control most banking assets. On September 10, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev appointed his daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, to head the planned Tashkent International Financial Centre, Reuters reported. She has led the presidential administration since 2025. Mirziyoyev announced the project at June’s Tashkent International Investment Forum, promising free capital movement alongside tax incentives. Its legal framework would draw on English common law principles, as is the case with Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre. Who Gets the Tax Breaks? Under the founding law, qualifying participants would receive income and social tax exemptions on financial services income until January 1, 2076. Eligibility requires an actual economic presence in the center and compliance with its rules. The income incentives exclude members of multinational groups with annual revenues of at least €750 million in two of the preceding four fiscal years. Those firms face a domestic top-up tax. The offer is therefore less generous for large multinational groups. A global bank would need a commercial reason to enter Uzbekistan beyond the prospect of a lower tax bill. Most of the foreign businesses operating in Uzbekistan are already concentrated in Tashkent. Almost 63% of the country’s foreign-invested enterprises were based in the capital as of June 1, 2026. Financial firms entering the city would therefore have an existing customer base to pursue, although the numbers alone reveal little about demand for particular services. The domestic banking market does offer scope for competition. In its 2026 assessment, the IMF reported that nine state-owned commercial banks accounted for 63% of banking assets. It also noted delays in privatizing two large banks and urged the authorities to withdraw directed and preferential lending. The center could attract private lenders and help more Uzbek businesses obtain loans. However, simply moving existing deals there to reduce tax bills would do little to expand access to credit. Astana’s Head Start Kazakhstan has operated its financial center since 2018. Its AIFC Court sits outside the national judicial system and uses procedures based on English common law. Businesses can also agree to bring disputes there even when those disputes originate outside the center. The court works directly with Kazakhstan’s authorities to enforce its judgments, and says its first ruling resulted in full payment through private bailiffs. That gives prospective users a concrete example of how a commercial judgment can lead to the recovery of a debt. Uzbekistan’s law likewise provides for an independent commercial court and nationwide recognition of its final judgments. It requires judgments to be published within 30 days, subject to limited confidentiality protections. For lenders, that could reduce uncertainty about committing money to an unfamiliar market. Tashkent would still need to establish a record of decisions and enforcement comparable to the experience available in Astana. The law allows 12 months to adopt essential operating rules, extendable by six months. Activation then requires...

Astana Finance Days 2026

From Transit to Capital: What Investors Were Looking for in Kazakhstan at Astana Finance Days

On the second day of Astana Finance Days, Kazakhstan was trying to answer the question that follows almost every discussion about new railways, power plants, data centers, and factories: where will the money come from? International banks, asset managers, and stock exchanges gathered in Astana, and the conversation quickly reached a point – foreign capital is interested in the country, but its domestic stock market remains too small for many large investors. From Transit to Transactions The title of the first major discussion of the second day – “From Transit to Transactions” – neatly captured the idea. Kazakhstan already earns money from its position between China and Europe and is investing billions in railways, ports, and energy infrastructure. Now Astana wants financial transactions to move alongside the freight, and some of that capital to remain in the country. The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), where the forum is being held, was created partly for that purpose. It is a separate financial jurisdiction within Kazakhstan, with its own regulator, court, and legal framework based on the principles of English common law. According to the center, by June 2026 its platform had helped attract $25.3 billion in investment to Kazakhstan, while the number of registered companies had exceeded 5,800. But the presence of international companies does not necessarily mean they are ready to invest. Jad Ellawn, Managing Partner for the Middle East at Brookfield, one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, began with three conditions. “The fundamental principles for an investor looking to enter a country consist of three components. First is having the proper legislation. Second is respect for capital: a country needs to demonstrate that capital is important to it not only domestically, but beyond its borders. Third is scalability,” he said. “In addition to energy resources, Kazakhstan has many other natural resources, and your country is the ninth-largest country in the world. This means you have many potential industries that you could develop, unlike the Gulf.” Yilmaz Kocagoz of Goldman Sachs, one of the largest U.S. investment banks, looked at Kazakhstan through the lens of manufacturing and infrastructure. “For Kazakhstan to diversify its economy beyond commodities, it needs to develop manufacturing and infrastructure,” he said. Kocagoz also pointed to Kazakhstan’s relatively low government debt burden. For an investor, that means a smaller share of the country’s future revenues is already committed to servicing a large public debt. Nurlan Zhakupov, the CEO of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, put a price tag on the country’s investment program: more than 100 projects worth $105 billion. “We see demand from local businesses and enormous interest from foreign partners. We are also seeing growing consumption of electricity and natural gas, as well as demand for the transportation of electricity, oil, gas, and petroleum products,” Zhakupov said. He ended with an invitation: “Overall, Kazakhstan currently has a good business climate, and now is a good time to enter the Kazakh economy.” The next discussion in the same building helped explain why that does...

Financial Services

Turkmenistan Cash Shortage Forces Residents to Pay Middlemen for Their Own Money

Residents of the town of Kaka in Turkmenistan’s Ahal region are facing a shortage of cash. Queues at ATMs stretch for dozens of people, but many residents are unable to withdraw money because the machines quickly run out of banknotes. As a result, some are turning to intermediaries who help them obtain cash for a fee. In recent weeks, an unusual service has become widespread in the town. So-called “cash-out agents” travel directly to customers with a bank terminal, check the balance on their card, and immediately hand over the requested amount in cash. For this service, they charge a commission of 10 manats for every 1,000 manats withdrawn, or roughly 1%. The intermediaries then take the owner’s bank card and withdraw the money themselves to recover the amount they have advanced. According to local residents, these agents likely know of ATMs with few or no queues, such as those located inside government institutions. The card is later returned to the owner. Despite the relatively small commission, residents use the service less for convenience than because of constant difficulties accessing cash. Many prefer paying a middleman to standing in line for several hours, only to find that the ATM is empty. The exact reasons for the current cash shortage remain unclear. So far, Turkmen.news sources have reported such difficulties only in Kaka. However, similar situations are not new in Turkmenistan. In spring 2025, the same problem was reported in the Mary and Lebap regions, while during the economic crisis of 2020-2021, cash was distributed across the country using vouchers. Authorities have regularly tried to ease the consequences of such crises. Measures have included restrictions on cash withdrawals, limits on withdrawal amounts, assigning specific ATMs to employees of particular enterprises, and allowing customers to use only machines linked to their servicing branch. In some cases, ATMs have even been moved to the outskirts of towns to keep long queues out of public view. Turkmenistan has also periodically imported new banknotes, which are printed in Malta. Residents cannot simply switch to cashless payments. Non-cash transactions are often disrupted by frequent internet outages, while the country’s banking system remains underdeveloped. According to sources, customers have reported missing funds, international transfers can take weeks, and foreign currency can be purchased at the official exchange rate only in limited circumstances and in small amounts. Under these conditions, alternative payment methods have become widespread. For domestic transfers, money is often sent to a mobile phone balance, after which it can be converted into cash through intermediaries for a commission. A similar system is also used for transfers from countries with large Turkmen diaspora communities. Money is handed over to intermediaries abroad, while their partners inside Turkmenistan provide recipients with the equivalent amount in manats. Such informal networks complicate oversight of financial flows. They have also emerged in response to the limitations and weak development of the country’s banking system.

Small Business Lending

Uzbekistan Plans AI-Based Lending Platform to Expand Financing for Small Businesses

Uzbekistan’s president Shavkat Mirziyoyev has reviewed proposals aimed at expanding financial support for small and medium-sized businesses, including the launch of a digital lending platform that would use artificial intelligence to assess borrowers and improve access to credit, according to Uzbekistan’s presidential press service. The proposals are part of a wider effort to increase the role of small businesses in the economy and reduce barriers to financial services. Despite years of reforms, officials said many entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan still face difficulties obtaining loans, particularly those without a credit history. According to figures presented during the meeting, the total loan portfolio allocated to small and medium-sized businesses has reached 218 trillion UZS, or about $17.3 billion, equivalent to around 12% of the country’s GDP. However, unsecured online microloans remain limited, and obtaining such financing currently takes up to seven days on average. The government plans to address these challenges through a new digital financial platform where entrepreneurs will be able to submit loan applications, receive offers from several banks simultaneously, compare terms, and choose the most suitable option. The platform is expected to be integrated with Uzbekistan’s e-government databases, allowing banks to automatically access information on businesses. Officials said this would reduce paperwork, shorten processing times, and limit human influence in lending decisions. One of the most significant proposed changes is the introduction of an alternative credit scoring system using elements of AI, scheduled for implementation from December 1, 2026. Unlike traditional scoring models that rely mainly on previous borrowing history, the new approach would consider factors such as business activity, utility payments, turnover, tax records, and other digital indicators. The aim is to enable banks to assess entrepreneurs who have never taken out loans before, potentially widening access to financing for startups and small enterprises operating outside conventional banking criteria. The government also plans to use AI tools to generate recommendations for improving creditworthiness, evaluating business risks, and supporting business development. Commercial banks may also introduce an “AI consultant” program designed to help entrepreneurs develop business ideas and identify financing opportunities based on local economic specialization and growth potential within neighborhoods, known as mahallas. Other measures under consideration include increasing the unsecured portion of microloans for borrowers with positive repayment records from 100 million to 200 million UZS. Interest expenses on loans or leasing arrangements of up to 5 billion UZS would also be partially compensated regardless of the total loan or lease size. Officials also proposed annual grants of up to 300 million UZS for 100 high-performing businesses to support digitalization, the adoption of international standards, and green technologies.