Only One Loss-Making Bank Remains In Kazakhstan

Kazakh banks earned a combined 388.9 billion tenge in the first two months of the year, down 13.4 % from a year earlier, according to National Bank data, Orda.kz reports.

The only loss-making market participant was BNK Commercial Bank, which received a banking licence only last year and had previously operated as an MFI.

BNK’s loss in January-February amounted to 345.8 billion tenge, compared with 155.9 billion tenge in the first month of the year. At the end of January, two banks were in the red: alongside BNK, another institution that had recently transformed from an MFI — KMF — posted a loss of 79.9 billion tenge.

As expected, Halyk Bank was the most profitable. The country’s largest bank by assets earned 143.1 billion tenge in two months. The top three also included Kaspi Bank and Bank CenterCredit, with 72.8 billion and 37.4 billion tenge respectively. All three banks posted weaker results than at the beginning of last year — down 12.9 %, 14.8 % and 31.9 % respectively.

BNK Commercial Bank received a banking licence in June last year and began operating in its new capacity in August. It now ranks last, 23rd, in Kazakhstan by assets, with 22.8 billion tenge and a wide gap from the rest of the market. KMF Bank, which changed its format in August 2025, has assets of 409.6 billion tenge.

At the end of last year, BNK Commercial Bank failed to meet the minimum capital requirement. Its own funds were 314 million tenge below the minimum threshold of 10 billion tenge for a bank. They now stand at 12.6 billion tenge.

BNK Commercial Bank belongs to South Korea’s BNK Capital, which is part of one of the country’s largest financial holdings, BNK Financial Group.

Original author: Alexey Afonsky

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