Kazakhstan's Bank Profits Fall by 254 Billion Tenge in Eight Months

The net profit of Kazakhstan's second-tier banks for January–August 2026 amounted to 1.61 trillion tenge. This is 13.6%, or approximately 254 billion tenge, less than in the same period last year, according to National Bank data, infohub.kz reports.

In the eight months of 2025, Kazakhstan's banks earned 1.864 trillion tenge in net profit. Thus, year-on-year, the figure fell to 1.61 trillion tenge.

At the same time, banks' interest income continued to grow. In January–August 2026, it increased by 16.1% year-on-year, from approximately 6.05 trillion to 7.02 trillion tenge.

However, interest expenses grew almost twice as fast. They rose by 30.7%, from about 3.22 trillion to 4.21 trillion tenge. As a result, the difference between interest income and expenses remained virtually flat, at around 2.81 trillion tenge versus 2.83 trillion tenge a year earlier. The financial result was also affected by a decline in commission income. Over the eight months, it fell by 13.2%, from 677.1 billion to 587.7 billion tenge. At the same time, commission expenses rose by 7.8%, to 269.6 billion tenge.

As a result, banks' net commission income dropped by 25.5%, from 427.1 billion to 318.1 billion tenge. Thus, banks earned approximately 109 billion tenge less in net income from commission operations than a year earlier. Banks' expenses for provisioning also increased. In January–August 2026, they amounted to 1.73 trillion tenge versus 1.62 trillion tenge a year earlier. Meanwhile, income from reserve recoveries remained virtually unchanged at around 1.17 trillion tenge.

A year earlier, the banking sector's profit had shown double-digit growth. In January–August 2025, banks earned 1.864 trillion tenge, which was 14.7% more than in the same period of 2024.

For the full year 2025, the net profit of Kazakhstan's banks reached 2.7 trillion tenge, up 6.7%. At the start of 2026, the banking sector's return on assets stood at 4.2%, and return on equity at 28.4%. A decline in profit in 2026 had also been recorded earlier. In January–July, banks earned 1.396 trillion tenge, which was 14.9% less than in the same period of 2025.