Aidos Zhumagulov from Freedom Bank called the superpower of Kazakh fintech

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At the central panel session of the Central Asia Fintech Summit 2026, the founder and CEO of Digital Business Vitaly Volyanuk discussed with Aidos Zhumagulov, a member of the board of directors of Freedom Bank, changes in the banking market of Kazakhstan and the prospects for the expansion of local fintech abroad.

* Digital Business is the general media partner of Central Asia Fintech Summit 2026.

According to Zhumagulov, after the launch of the Unified QR, Freedom Bank saw an increase in both the number and volume of transactions. However, he believes that the main effect of the project lies not only in additional operations.

“The client is now gradually reducing his dependence on the specific bank or merchant to which he is tied. In fact, there is now a very interesting shift in the market, when we are moving from infrastructure competition to product competition.

When the infrastructure became market, the rails became market, every organization, every bank will compete to create the best product and the best service for the market, so that its client actively uses its mobile application,” Zhumagulov noted.

According to him, the Unified QR can influence not only the number of transactions, but also the activity indicators of banking applications - DAU and MAU. When paying via Apple Pay or Google Pay, the user opens the corresponding wallet, and when paying via Unified QR, the user opens the banking application directly.

Volyanyuk asked Zhumagulov what of the Kazakh banking experience can already be scaled to other markets. He replied that we are talking not so much about individual banking products, but about the digital business model itself.

“I think our main difference is that we do not export specific banking products. In Kazakhstan, we have learned to build digital platforms - we have learned to build super-applications that instantly open accounts, issue an insurance policy, allow you to order groceries, buy tickets, and so on.”

It is the ability to combine different services in one digital platform that Zhumagulov considers one of the main advantages of Kazakhstan:

“And if we learn to maintain that speed, our platform itself, when we do not compete with a banking application with a banking application, but rather carry a digital platform that combines telecom, brokerage, insurance and a number of other solutions, then, in fact, this is probably one of our advantages: that we have learned to do this.”

Zhumagulov clarified that Kazakhstan can export not individual technologies, but accumulated knowledge and approaches to creating such platforms.

Speaking about the development of competition, Zhumagulov noted that there is no one measure that will immediately make the market more competitive. In his opinion, the situation is simultaneously influenced by the development of technology, regulation and digital services. As an example, he cited the Unified QR, GovTech, digital financial assets, stablecoins and crypto cards - areas that, according to the banker, could eventually turn into new market