S&P improves assessment of Kazakhstan’s banking sector

On Sep. 4, 2026, S&P announced an improvement in Kazakhstan’s Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA), continuing a longer-term trend following previous revisions in 2021, 2023, and 2024.

According to S&P, the industry risk upgrade reflects Kazakhstan’s efforts to strengthen oversight of financial institutions.

The rating agency said the measures have made the country’s supervisory framework more robust and helped safeguard financial stability during periods of economic stress. S&P also noted that banking regulation and supervision in Kazakhstan are more effective than in several other countries in the region, including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

S&P highlighted several measures behind the improvement, including regular reviews of banks’ asset quality, the introduction of the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP), and tighter controls on excessive risk-taking, particularly in the rapidly growing retail lending segment.

The agency said these measures should make banks better equipped to withstand periods of heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

S&P also pointed to stronger ongoing supervision, closer monitoring, and greater reporting transparency, as well as stricter capital and liquidity requirements and regular stress testing. The supervisory framework now also covers corporate governance and emerging risks, including cyber resilience and climate-related factors.

“In recent years, the banking sector has demonstrated relative resilience to geopolitical and macroeconomic risks in the region. Overall credit risk in the financial system remains under control,” S&P said.

The positive outlook on economic risk reflects expectations that risks to Kazakhstan’s financial system will continue to decline amid stabilizing macroeconomic conditions, easing inflation, and improving asset quality indicators.

The BICRA upgrade also had a positive impact on the credit profiles of several Kazakh financial institutions. S&P raised Bank CenterCredit’s long-term rating to “BB+” and upgraded the national-scale ratings of Freedom group subsidiaries to “kzA.”

The outlooks on the long-term ratings of Halyk Bank (“BBB-”) and Nurbank (“B”), as well as Freedom Holding’s international ratings, were revised to positive.

Kazakhstan’s financial regulator said it would continue strengthening supervisory mechanisms, introducing international best practices, and improving financial market transparency to support sustainable growth.

Earlier, it was reported that the National Bank of Kazakhstan had unveiled new collector coin featuring epic love story.