International agency S&P Global Ratings has improved its assessment of Kazakhstan's banking system. Experts noted that Kazakh banks have become more reliable, and control over them is stricter and more effective than in neighboring countries. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

According to the press service of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM), S&P revised the outlook for the 'Economic Risk' component from 'stable' to 'positive'. This upgrade reinforces the long-term trend of improving the banking sector's position, continuing the dynamics of previous revisions in 2021, 2023, and 2024.

Key factors

The National Bank and financial regulators carefully check the quality of loans and ensure that banks do not issue risky loans to everyone, especially in the retail lending sector. Advanced international standards have been introduced into banking operations, including stress tests, cybersecurity checks, and consideration of climate risks.

Expert opinion

Despite the difficult situation in the world, Kazakhstan's banking system remains confident, and the level of non-performing loans is under control, according to the S&P report.

"The positive outlook on economic risk reflects international analysts' expectations of further reduction of risks to the financial system amid stabilization of macroeconomic indicators, slowing inflation, and improvement in asset quality metrics," the financial regulator believes.

Rating changes

Amid the upgrade, ratings of several financial institutions also changed. In particular, the long-term rating of Bank CenterCredit was raised to 'BB+', and the ratings of Freedom's subsidiaries on the national scale were raised to 'kzA'. Outlooks on ratings of Halyk Bank, Nurbank, and Freedom also became positive.

Earlier, Kursiv reported that the yield on deposits of Kazakhstani citizens may continue to decline after the National Bank reduced the base rate to 16.25% on September 4. This forecast is contained in the latest monitoring of the Kazakhstan Deposit Guarantee Fund (KDGF).