The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan has set out, within the draft new Law on Banks and Banking Activity, the creation of a unified Financial Ombudsman service to establish a single, consistent mechanism for pre-trial resolution of disputes between consumers and financial organisations. Under the proposal, a consumer would be able to apply to the unified service if they disagree with a financial organisation’s response or if no response is provided within the set timeframe. The unified service would become the main pre-trial dispute resolution institution in the financial market by combining the currently separate banking, insurance and microfinance ombudsman mechanisms. The Financial Ombudsman would review disputes and issue decisions that financial organisations must comply with, while preserving a consumer’s right to go to court if the dispute is not resolved. The pre-trial procedure would apply to (i) consumers’ property claims against banks, branches of non-resident banks, certain bank-operations organisations, microfinance organisations, assignees of rights under bank loan or microcredit agreements, insurance and reinsurance organisations and their non-resident branches, and securities market brokerage organisations where claims arise from terms for offering financial products, (ii) cases where a bank, microfinance organisation or collection agency refuses to amend bank loan or microcredit terms or no mutually acceptable solution is reached following an individual consumer’s request, and (iii) disputes under insurance contracts between policyholders (insured persons, beneficiaries) and insurers, as well as disputes between insurers on mandatory and voluntary insurance. The service’s council would be empowered, subject to prior agreement with the Agency, to appoint the required number of financial ombudsmen for specific areas of financial services. The Agency would set requirements for the procedure of ombudsmen’s professional activities and for the service’s corporate governance system, and would supervise compliance by both financial organisations and the Financial Ombudsman service, including through supervisory response measures; the overall model is described as a three-level process of first contacting the financial organisation, then applying to the Financial Ombudsman, and, if necessary, subsequently applying to the Agency.
Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2025-12-23
Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan proposes creating a unified Financial Ombudsman service
Kazakhstan's Financial Market Agency proposes a unified Financial Ombudsman under the draft Law on Banks to streamline pre-trial dispute resolution between consumers and financial organisations. This service would consolidate existing mechanisms across banking, insurance, and microfinance, with binding decisions on organisations while preserving consumers' court rights. The Agency would oversee governance and compliance, establishing a three-level resolution process involving financial organisations, the Financial Ombudsman, and the Agency.