Skip to content
PAYMENTS IN KAZAKHSTAN
Kazakhstan is a presidential republic with a bicameral Parliament composed of the Senate and the Assembly (Mazhilis). There is limited power outside of the executive branch.
The Republic of Kazakhstan is a country in Central Asia, with a minor part west of the Ural River and thus in Europe. Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country by land area and the ninth largest country in the world; its territory of 2,724,900 square kilometres is larger than Western Europe. It has borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea. The capital is Astana, where it was moved from Almaty in 1997. Kazakhstan allows freedom of religion. The Kazakh language is the state language, while Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes.
Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Kazakhstan government has pursued the goal of an open economy integrated into the world economy, including a fully privatised banking sector. Oil and gas are the main engines of the Kazakh economy, and Kazakhstan contributes 60% of Central Asia’s GDP, underlining its importance to the region economically as a whole.
Kazakhstan is a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, whose formation was finalised in 2015. However, with a view to its long-standing open economy policy, the Kazakh government insists that joining the customs union will not preclude trade agreements with other countries and international organisations.
In March 2020, the Concept of the Foreign Policy of Kazakhstan for 2020–2030 was announced. This is aimed at implementing progressive foreign policies, economic interest in the international arena to attract investment, and development of regional and multilateral diplomacy with key partners - including Russia, China, the US and EU countries.
According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, mobile apps, internet banking and other remote facilities are becoming the main channels for providing payment services to end users.
In May 2021, the National Bank of Kazakhstan announced the launch of a pilot national digital currency as a prospective form of money. The digital KZT would be a legal means of payment, a value measure, and a means of saving.
Many banks in Kazakhstan are pursuing the development of their own payment ecosystems, by integrating consumer payment services, merchant acquiring and e-commerce platforms to streamline and accelerate development of digital payments.
STATISTICAL KEY FIGURES FOR 2022/23 PROVIDED IN THIS PROFILE:
New in 2023:
- The full impact of COVID-19 on digital payments, card payments, e-commerce and m-commerce by market.
- Real-time payments infrastructure and growth statistics by market.
- Open Banking infrastructure, API roll-out, key players and key initiatives by market.
- Contactless and mobile payments statistics by market.
- Cryptocurrency, stablecoin and CBDC initiatives by market.
- Full update on bank channel digitisation by market.
- Forecasting column added for all the major tables.
- Reader-friendly design with enhanced data visualisation.
- Industry developments and bank deployments of eID, biometrics and AI.
- The integration of digital challengers and neobanks into the banking infrastructure.
Updates For 2022-23:
- Updated – Bank M&As, restructuring and market positioning. Customer number KPIs and adoption of digital channel KPIs.
- Updated – Mobile banking apps and digital wallet initiatives.
- Updated - PSPs by individual country.
- Updated – Real-time payments uptake and QR code payments rollout.
- Updated – Card fraud in Europe and by individual country.
- Updated – Non-bank cards and co-brands.
- Highlighting the new trends in the payment industry by individual country:
Contactless, mobile NFC, QR code, mPOS, SoftPOS services
Display cards, contactless ATMs, biometric authentication
Digital wallets, in-app payments, mobile in-store payments
Instant payments
eID initiatives
Cryptocurrency and CBCD initiatives
- Updated: tables with card business data 2017-2021; growth rates: Y-o-Y, CAGR + Forecasting column
- Population, Cards per Capita, Card Value per Capita
- Debit Cards, Credit/Delayed Debit Cards, Total Cards
- Card payments by number and by value, ATV per card, payments per card/year
- ATMs, POS terminals, ATMs/POS terminals per 1 million capita
- ATM withdrawals by number/by value, ATV per withdrawal, TXs per ATM/month
- POS payments by number/by value, ATV per POS payment, TXs per POS/month
- Internet Use, e-payment mix, B2C e-Commerce by value and growth rate
- Issued Card brands by individual major issuer bank
- Accepted card brands by individual major acquirer
- Drill down into the debit card use and credit cards use details
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Digital product provided in PDF format. You will receive a download link to a zip file containing your files after checkout.
VERSION
Version 1.1 - last updated 03/01/23
