With the start of 2026, a new banking law came into effect in Kazakhstan, dividing banks into two categories: those with universal and basic licenses. The basic license simplifies the opening of new banks but imposes restrictions on operations. In particular, from September 13, a regulation comes into force limiting the maximum amounts of deposits of individuals in banks with a basic license: savings deposits in tenge — up to 20 million, other deposits and current accounts — up to 10 million, foreign currency deposits — up to 5 million tenge. At the same time, the total balance across all accounts in one such bank should not exceed 20 million tenge. However, banks with a universal license do not have such restrictions, reports the website infohub.kz.
The new rules will not affect most depositors. As the portal "Uchet" notes, the basic license is intended for new and small banks, while all existing banks in Kazakhstan already have a universal license. Among them: Freedom Bank, Halyk Bank, Kaspi Bank, Alatau City Bank, ForteBank, KMF Bank, Altyn Bank, Bank RBK, Otbasy Bank, Citibank Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan-Ziraat International Bank, Eurasian Bank, Bank of China in Kazakhstan, Shinhan Bank Kazakhstan, Bank CenterCredit, Nur Bank, VTB Bank, and others. The remaining banks are currently re-registering their licenses as universal.
Thus, only banks with a basic license will offer deposits with limited maximum amounts, but currently there are no such banks in the country.