On September 4, 2026, international rating agency Moody's Ratings assigned Freedom Life, a life insurance company, a Baa3 insurance financial strength rating in both national and foreign currency, with a stable outlook. This is the first investment-grade rating in the company's history, according to infohub.kz.
The Baa3 rating falls within the investment-grade category and corresponds to BBB- on the S&P and Fitch scales. It is higher than the company's current rating from S&P Global Ratings, which was BB+. Thus, Freedom Life has received an investment-grade rating for the first time. Moody's noted the insurer's financial strength and low default risk.
A key factor in the assessment was the company's position in Kazakhstan's life insurance market. In 2025, Freedom Life ranked third by insurance premiums with a market share of about 20%. During 2023–2025, the company was among the top three life insurers in the country.
Moody's also noted that the integration of Freedom Life into the financial ecosystem of Freedom Holding Corp. supports business development. It helps the company enhance brand recognition, develop cross-selling, and attract clients through the Freedom SuperApp. By March 2026, the number of registered users of the app exceeded 5 million.
Moody's separately highlighted the company's conservative investment strategy. As of the end of 2025, about 90% of Freedom Life's invested assets were in fixed-income securities. The portfolio mainly consists of government, quasi-government, and state-related issuers of Kazakhstan.
The company's capital position has also strengthened. The ratio of equity to total assets increased from 24% in 2024 to 30% in 2025. The solvency ratio at the end of last year was about 430% and continued to rise in the first half of 2026.
Freedom Life's net profit in 2025 grew by 36%, from 12.5 billion to 17 billion tenge. Return on average capital reached 23%.
Moody's expects the company to maintain solid profitability, driven by investment income and the spread between the yield on its investment portfolio and guaranteed rates on insurance contracts.
The stable outlook indicates that over the next 12–18 months, the agency expects Freedom Life to maintain its strong market position and financial profile. Among long-term risk factors, Moody's highlights the growing share of pension annuities and related asset-liability management issues.
Azamat Erdesov, Chairman of the Management Board of Freedom Life, called the rating a result of the company's business growth, capital strengthening, and sustainable profitability.
“We are developing the company not only by increasing business volumes, but also by expanding the product line, digitalizing insurance services, and integrating into the Freedom ecosystem. The next stage for us is to further strengthen financial stability, develop long-term insurance and savings products, and make life insurance more accessible to Kazakhstanis,” he said.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that S&P Global Ratings revised the outlook on the long-term credit ratings of Freedom Holding Corp. (FRHC) and four of its key subsidiaries from “stable” to “positive.” At the same time, the national scale ratings of broker Freedom Finance and Freedom Bank Kazakhstan were upgraded from “kzA-” to “kzA”.