BFC Bulletins Monthly News Digest
Tags Digital Banking Digital Transformation Regulation
Kazakhstan suffers from a lack of digitalization in the financial sector, as is evident by the fact that there is not a single full-fledged digital financial institution in the country. Moreover, there seems to be a lack of understanding of what going digital means, with many financial institutions often only working on fashionable frontend solutions and ignoring digitizing vital processes, procedures, products, etc. For this to change, there needs to be a fundamental rethinking in financial institutions (from top management down) about what it really means to be a digital financial institution. In other words, go beyond thinking about merely transferring everything to an online forum and really move toward rethinking and reshaping every aspect of the institution.
Fortunately, there is hope for true digital transformation in Kazakhstan. The national regulator is working on ways to promote and support digital financial institutions, and those interested in pursuing this should work with them to develop something unique within the country as well as create an information buzz about the promise of digital. There are also a large number of interesting partnership opportunities for those interested in going digital, including with government agencies and retail stores.
Digitization in the financial sector is inevitable and will soon reach most consumers worldwide. In Kazakhstan, it is likely that at least 2 digital financial institutions will appear and start to change the sector within the next 10 years, including by forcing more traditional organizations to offer more and more services online and with digital-backed processes.
