The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan reported on a series of Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) trainings and seminars for Kazakhstan’s financial sector focused on expanding access to financial services for people with disabilities. The agency framed disability inclusion as a regulatory priority and outlined current accessibility measures alongside legislative amendments it has initiated. The programme covered methodological barriers faced by regulators and financial institutions, practical approaches to designing and implementing effective policies for people with disabilities, alternative methods for assessing creditworthiness, consumer rights protection strategies and fraud prevention. The agency noted that more than 741,000 people in Kazakhstan live with disabilities, around 3.65% of the population, and reported that over 80% of bank branches are partially or fully adapted and that 19 banks’ websites and mobile applications have been adapted under its requirements. It also highlighted proposed amendments to закрепіт a mandatory obligation for banks to apply the national standard on requirements for serving persons with disabilities and a requirement to restructure loans of people with disabilities for at least three months, and cited state support measures including preferential mortgage and entrepreneurship lending programmes and insurance discounts. Separately, it pointed to debt relief under the state mortgage refinancing programme launched in 2015, under which the debts of 1,120 people with disabilities have been forgiven for more than KZT 11.2 billion.

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