The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved implementing regulations for the new Banking Law that establish risk-based conduct supervision and consumer protection across the financial product lifecycle. The framework shifts supervision from a primary focus on legal compliance toward preventing consumer harm and assessing whether products, promotions and sales practices serve consumer interests and produce fair outcomes. Banks, microfinance and insurance organizations, and certain securities market participants will be subject to common product governance requirements. These include identifying target markets, assessing the relationship between product price and value, testing products before launch, monitoring customer outcomes and modifying or withdrawing products where risks arise. Firms must also provide balanced information on product terms, costs, benefits and risks, prevent unfair promotional practices, and assess a product’s suitability for an individual customer before contracting. The package also establishes unified operating and complaint-handling standards for financial ombudsmen, whose decisions and case information will support the identification of systemic breaches, unfair practices and product deficiencies. These rules take effect Jan. 1, 2027, with ombudsman services funded through mandatory financial institution contributions. The agency also expanded the collective debt-resolution mechanism to consumer bank loans and microloans assigned to collection agencies, allowing eligible borrowers with debts to multiple creditors to use a single digital procedure rather than negotiate separately with each creditor.

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