The Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) has begun the process of reissuing permits for banks as part of the transition to a differentiated licensing system. Universal licenses, allowing the full range of financial operations without restrictions, have been granted to five Kazakh banks. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
According to the regulator, the first universal banking license (No. 1.1.551.129) was issued on July 9, 2026, to Freedom Bank (per order of July 7). As part of the document update, the bank received the right to conduct a number of additional specialized operations.
These include: opening and maintaining metal accounts for individuals and legal entities; purchasing, accepting as collateral, accounting, storing, and selling refined precious metals in bullion and coins made of precious metals; accepting deposits for housing construction savings, as well as opening and maintaining depositor accounts; providing depositors with housing, interim, and preliminary loans to improve housing conditions; interbank loans, guarantees, sureties, and other interbank operations.
Following the pioneer, the ARDFM reissued documents for four more financial institutions. According to orders dated July 13, new universal banking licenses including additional interbank operations (loans, guarantees, sureties) were granted to Halyk Bank and Kaspi Bank.
The next day, July 14, similar documents with an expanded list of permitted interbank operations were issued to Alatau City Bank and ForteBank.
The new law on banks was signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on January 16, 2026. The document fundamentally changed the regulatory environment, introducing a differentiated licensing system for financial institutions. The law provides for two types of banking licenses: universal and basic. A universal license grants the bank the right to carry out the full range of operations without any restrictions.
A basic license allows attracting deposits, lending to the population and businesses, as well as conducting cash settlement services. However, it imposes strict prohibitions: banks with a basic license are not allowed to lend to non-residents and related parties, conduct transactions with derivative financial instruments, invest in foreign assets, and other complex cross-border operations.
In accordance with the requirements of Article 132 of the Law on Banks, all existing players are given six months from the date the law enters into force to mandatory reissue their documents for a universal banking license.