International rating agency S&P Global Ratings has improved its assessment of Kazakhstan's banking system. Analysts noted the growing reliability of Kazakh banks and stricter oversight of their activities, which has become more effective than in neighboring countries, according to the website infohub.kz.
The industry assessment was raised from '7' to '6'. The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) explained that S&P also revised the outlook for the 'Economic Risk' component from 'stable' to 'positive'. This upgrade reinforces the long-term trend of improving the banking sector's position, continuing the momentum of previous revisions in 2021, 2023, and 2024.
The ARDFM statement emphasizes that the National Bank and financial regulators thoroughly check the quality of loans and ensure that banks do not issue risky loans, especially in retail lending. Advanced international standards have been implemented in banking operations, including stress tests, cybersecurity checks, and consideration of climate risks.
Despite the challenging global environment, Kazakhstan's banking system demonstrates confidence, and the level of non-performing loans remains under control, the S&P report notes. The financial regulator believes that the positive outlook on economic risk reflects international analysts' expectations of further risk reduction for the financial system amid stabilizing macroeconomic indicators, slowing inflation, and improving asset quality metrics.
In connection with the upgraded assessment, the ratings of several financial institutions were revised. In particular, the long-term rating of Bank CenterCredit was raised to 'BB+', and the ratings of Freedom's subsidiaries on the national scale were raised to 'kzA'. The outlooks on the ratings of Halyk Bank, Nurbank, and Freedom have also become positive.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that deposit yields for Kazakhstani citizens may continue to decline after the National Bank reduced the base rate to 16.25% on September 4. This forecast is contained in the latest monitoring by the Kazakhstan Deposit Guarantee Fund (KDGF).