Large Banks in Kazakhstan Lose Profit While Smaller Ones Grow

In the first quarter, Kazakhstan’s largest banks posted weaker financial results than a year earlier, according to National Bank data, while smaller second-tier lenders showed significant growth in net profit, Orda.kz reports.

A decline in quarterly net profit was recorded among the nine largest banks by assets. Halyk Bank earned 210.1 billion tenge in January-March, which was 15% less than in the first quarter of 2025. Kaspi Bank’s profit fell 14% to 110.5 billion tenge, while Bank CenterCredit’s dropped 31% to 54 billion tenge.

Otbasy Bank and ForteBank posted declines of 13% and 22.7% respectively. Otbasy Bank holds a universal banking license, although it specializes in mortgage lending under the housing savings system and also has the status of a national development institution. Alatau City Bank cut profit by 24%. Eurasian Bank showed the weakest performance, with profit down 58% to 7 billion tenge. Bereke Bank’s result fell 40%, while Bank RBK’s dropped 14%.

Freedom Bank, which ranks 10th by assets, was the largest bank to show positive dynamics. It posted a profit of 8.3 billion tenge, compared with a loss of 37.1 billion tenge a year earlier.

At the same time, smaller banks finished the first quarter much more strongly. Citibank increased profit by 13.7%, the Commercial and Industrial Bank of China in Almaty, or ICBC, by 53%, Ziraat Bank by 35%, Nurbank by 50%, and ADCB by 80%. The first two operate only in the corporate segment.

Original author: Alexey Afonsky

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