At the presentation of the 2025 results of the Debt-Free Society project, the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan outlined the project’s debt-resolution outcomes and the regulator’s measures to curb excessive household borrowing, including a moratorium on banks and microfinance organisations selling individuals’ loans to collectors until 1 May 2026. The Agency reported that 703,000 borrowers had debts regulated totalling KZT 754bn under the initiative. In 2025, financial organisations fully wrote off KZT 25bn for 89,000 borrowers and partially wrote off KZT 4.1bn for 470,000 borrowers. The project has also expanded delivery tools, including a design office with a call centre where 180 lawyers handle queries, an LMS-based online training programme, and the Qogamfin.kz digital system to track applications and prepare document packages for matters such as restructuring, lifting encumbrances and out-of-court bankruptcy. On credit tightening, consumer loans were prohibited for borrowers with payments overdue by more than 90 days, and from 2025 new lending was also prohibited for borrowers with arrears exceeding 30 days at banks and one day at microfinance organisations; caps on consumer loan sizes and a maximum unsecured loan term of five years were also introduced. The Agency linked these measures to a slowdown in the growth of banks’ unsecured consumer lending to 13.2% in the first 10 months of 2025, from 27.1% in 2023 and 29.3% in 2024. Looking ahead, the Agency said it has prepared a 2026 roadmap with other public bodies, following the President’s call to give Debt-Free Society an institutional programme-document status. Planned reforms referenced include a conduct supervision model and stronger consumer protection via conduct risk management, creation of a unified financial ombudsman office, a collective debt-settlement mechanism for borrowers with long-overdue debts across multiple creditors, and development with the Ministry of Finance of a proactive out-of-court bankruptcy mechanism, including a proposal in a new law to shorten the out-of-court bankruptcy process from six months to one month for borrowers with payments overdue by more than five years.
Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2025-12-10
Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan reports Debt-Free Society results and confirms moratorium on retail loan sales to collectors through 1 May 2026
The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of Kazakhstan reported on the Debt-Free Society project's 2025 outcomes, highlighting debt-resolution measures and a moratorium on loan sales to collectors until May 2026. Achievements include regulating KZT 754bn in debts for 703,000 borrowers and introducing credit tightening measures, slowing unsecured consumer lending growth to 13.2% in 2025. The Agency also announced a 2026 roadmap for further reforms, including enhanced consumer protection and a streamlined out-of-court bankruptcy process.