ASTANA, Kazakhstan, September 1. Kazakhstan plans to attract foreign banks to open their branches in the country, Trend reports.
The banking sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan is represented by 21 second-tier banks, of which 12 are banks with foreign participation, including 8 subsidiary banks. Assets of the banking sector as of May 1, 2023 amounted to 44.8 trillion tenge (about $95 billion).
Meanwhile, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that the step to attract foreign banks is necessary to increase competition.
"Only a few large banks in Kazakhstan are engaged in corporate lending, that is, the financing of economic projects. Therefore, in order to increase competition in this area, the country plans to increase the number of reliable foreign banks in the country. In order to expand the access of the real sector to "long money", it is necessary to more actively apply the mechanisms of joint and syndicated lending," he said.