The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan said information circulating about its activities is false and clarified that regulation of the unified interbank QR code does not fall within its mandate. Under the law on the National Bank of Kazakhstan, operation of the QR code and regulation of payment systems are the responsibility of the National Bank of Kazakhstan. The agency added that it does not set interbank acquiring commissions or regulate the tariff policy of payment systems. Alongside that clarification, the agency pointed to its ongoing supervisory and consumer protection work in other areas. It said it continuously supervises microfinance organizations and noted that, since 2021, the licenses of 127 microfinance organizations and 135 collection agencies have been revoked for legal violations. In 2024-2026, 55 microfinance organizations and 29 collection agencies were fined more than KZT 500 million through about 1,600 administrative penalties. The agency said its supervisory measures led in 2025 to full or partial write-offs of principal, interest and penalties for 33,900 borrowers and debt restructuring for 722,000 borrowers. It also referred to a 2024 joint resolution with the National Bank that lowered annual percentage rate caps from 56% to 46% for unsecured bank loans and microcredits, from 56% to 40% for secured loans, and cut the maximum daily rate for online microcredits of up to 45 monthly calculation indices with maturities of more than 45 days from 1% to 0.3%. On financial fraud, the agency said interagency coordination with law enforcement, the National Bank and market participants is supported by the National Bank's Anti-Fraud Center, which enables real-time information sharing between financial institutions and state bodies. Since the start of 2025, more than 163,000 fraudulent transactions worth over KZT 68 billion were stopped and fraudulent transactions worth more than KZT 28.9 billion were blocked. The agency also said legislative measures to prevent fraudulent lending now include mandatory biometric identification, a decision period for online loans, a requirement for a borrower's physical presence when taking a first loan, a ban on interest accrual while investigations into fraudulently issued loans are underway, and broader grounds for out-of-court and court-ordered write-offs. In 2025, banks and microfinance organizations wrote off 1,600 fraudulently issued loans totaling KZT 1.9 billion.

Original source Back to tracker