The era of trust and new architecture: how the Central Asia Fintech Summit 2026 was held in Almaty

The era of trust and new architecture: how the Central Asia Fintech Summit 2026 was held in Almaty

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan intend to introduce mutual acquiring of national QR codes

The Center for Contemporary Culture “Tselinny” hosted Central Asia Fintech Summit (CAFS) 2026, the key industry event in the fintech market of Central Asia. In 2026, the summit brought together more than 4,000 participants, including heads of banks, fintech companies, government agencies and international experts. The theme of this year's summit is “The Age of Trust: What the Financial Market Will Look Like in the Next Decade.”

“Digital technologies are changing the very organization of the financial market: new participants, investment instruments and payment methods are appearing. At the same time, the role of the regulator is changing - we are required to act proactively, create conditions for innovation and competition, ensuring the reliability of the financial system and trust in it,” said Chairman of the National Bank Timur Suleimenov.

As part of the summit, the new architecture of the payment market in Kazakhstan was presented. From October 2026, a new type of regulated participants will appear on the financial market - payment organizations of the first category. They will operate on the basis of a license from the National Bank and will be able to combine the provision of payment services with certain types of banking operations.

During the opening plenary session, it was discussed that targeted expansion of the circle of participants and equal access to infrastructure are designed to enhance healthy competition in the market. It is expected that the emergence of new players will accelerate the development of the financial sector, bring fresh competencies and open up additional prospects for mutually beneficial partnerships between banks and technology companies.

New entrants will also act as a regulated conduit between the payments market and the digital asset market, with enhanced capital, digital infrastructure and information security requirements.

The development of new market participants was a continuation of the broader transformation of Kazakhstan's financial infrastructure. At the summit, it was noted that today all the main components of the National Digital Financial Infrastructure are successfully operating in the country: interbank payments, digital tenge, biometrics and tools to combat financial fraud.

One of the key results of the year was the launch of the Interbank mobile payment system: since July 19, more than 20 million transactions worth about 400 billion tenge have already been carried out through transfers by phone number and Unified QR. At the same time, the digital tenge is developing (in 2026–2027, the volume of transactions with it is expected to reach 2 trillion tenge), and more than ten solutions based on artificial intelligence are already in commercial operation of the National Bank. The market for digital assets is also actively growing: 34 projects are being implemented in the regulatory sandbox, and $700 million has been allocated to the National Crypto Reserve.

The highlight of the program was the National Antifraud Awards 2026 ceremony,