Digital Silk Road: how Kazakhstan is becoming a center of capital attraction

In recent years, amid the turbulence in global financial markets, Kazakhstan has been increasingly asserting itself as a new point of attraction for capital. At the intersection of trade and financial routes, the country is rapidly becoming a regional hub, offering transparent rules of the game and access to global platforms. The information about how the republic manages to occupy a leading position can be found in the Izvestia article.

Kazakhstan as the core of the ecosystem and a technology platform

Since the beginning of 2024, the main index of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) has grown by 22%, and since the beginning of August this year it has already added 6%, which indicates its steady development. This trend makes the Kazakhstan stock exchange one of the most successful in the region and indicates an improvement in macroeconomic indicators, an increase in the investment attractiveness of local companies and an overall stabilization of financial markets.

It is in Kazakhstan that the expansion of Freedom Finance Global is gaining momentum, a company that not only opens doors to global stock exchanges for its clients, but also forms the image of the country as a state capable of competing for the status of a global financial center.

The financial group, whose capitalization has already exceeded $11 billion, has transformed over the past two years from a strong regional player into an ambitious global ecosystem. Under the leadership of founder and CEO Timur Turlov, the holding develops its services in 22 countries and simultaneously builds strategic bridges between East and West.

The starting point of scaling was Kazakhstan (where the company's headquarters are located), where Freedom not only integrated banking, insurance and brokerage services, but also launched a full-fledged digital ecosystem with the SuperApp application.

—Kazakhstan is a territory where the holding was able to implement a holistic model: the bank, investments, lifestyle and telecom work as a single space,— Timur Turlov noted.

Digital mortgages, instant online loans, brokerage access for investors to the main stock exchanges in the world, automated insurance — all these services are available to users in the same ecosystem of Freedom Finance.

Timur Turlov emphasizes that the decision to develop the ecosystem was not a tribute to the trend, but a strategic necessity.

— We will not survive in a competitive environment if we develop only in one niche. A successful business today is the ability to create a closed loop in which each service enhances the other. The ecosystem provides not only synergy, but also sustainability. A client who comes for one service stays with you in different roles over time," he is sure. 

Timur Turlov calls this "ecosystem gravity": diverse services within an ecosystem reinforce each other, creating trust and scale that is impossible with isolated work.:

Expansion in Central Asia

The Central Asian vector remains a priority area for Freedom Holding's geographical expansion. The digital bank was launched in Tajikistan in 2024, which is the holding's first project in the "from scratch" format on the foreign market. The decision to open in this country turned out to be strategically sound: the combination of a weak banking sector, high digital readiness, and government support made Tajikistan a favorable environment for scaling the Kazakh model.

— Tajikistan has absolutely crazy potential to build a cool digital retail bank with our technology. Only $2 billion is the total assets of the entire sector! And only 20% is the share of non—cash payments. Banking services are expensive," Timur Turlov notes.

At the same time, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan are connected by geography and cultural proximity. In addition, a single QR payment has already been introduced in the country, an eGov platform transferred from Kazakhstan is used, and there is also a Digitalization Agency with which Freedom actively cooperates. All this made it possible to obtain a banking license in just 8 months, which is extremely fast by the standards of the financial sector.

— We believe that our technologies, which have shown effective results in Kazakhstan, will be able to give an impetus to the Tajik market. We are going to develop the card infrastructure: POS terminals, ATMs and the usual services that are sorely lacking there," says Turlov.

Since 2023, the Freedom Finance brokerage branch has been operating in Kyrgyzstan, which has also been adapted to the local market. The company focuses on the simplicity of the interface and access to international markets.

For several years now, the holding has been actively developing both brokerage and banking products in Uzbekistan. Tashkent is home to one of the group's IT hubs, serving digital infrastructure throughout Central Asia. Key components of SuperApp are being developed here, including identification, credit, and insurance modules.

— We are not building a business around offices, but around technology. And where there is no strong traditional infrastructure, we can grow rapidly through mobile solutions," emphasizes Timur Turlov.

The connectivity between the regions, the common language and digital space, as well as the high degree of shortage of services for the population in the financial services sector make Central Asia a natural springboard for scaling the Freedom Holding model.

New strategic markets

In March 2025, Freedom received a broker's license in Turkey and immediately set ambitious goals.

"We came not just to trade stocks, but to give Turkish investors access to international markets and high—quality products through our platform,— comments Timur Turlov.

Turlov emphasizes that Turkey is not just "another market," but a key hub for connecting Europe and the Middle East.

The model in Turkey largely repeats the Kazakh one: mobile solutions, an investment marketplace, integration with local payment systems, all of which will quickly increase the customer base.

A subsidiary of Freedom Finance has been operating in the United Arab Emirates since 2022. The holding is currently in the final stages of obtaining a brokerage license. According to the company's plans, up to 30% of the annual profit will be reinvested in the development of destinations in the UAE and Turkey.

— These are markets where we can simultaneously develop B2C services and offer B2B solutions to international clients. We are adapting our own Tradernet trading platform to local specifics and will offer users what is still missing: convenience, speed and a reasonable price," said Timur Turlov.

The future lies in connecting markets

The list of potential markets Freedom plans to enter includes Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Southeast Asia. The expansion is not going according to a template, but taking into account regional peculiarities.

— In each country, we find our own growth point — some investments, some digital banking, some telecom. But it's always a single user experience in which technology is the core," says Timur Turlov, head of Freedom Finance.

Freedom invests in teams and technologies: each country creates its own offices and customer support, but the core of development and strategy remains centralized. This allows you to simultaneously adapt to local realities and maintain overall management.

— When you are working in 22 countries and planning even more, it is important not to lose control. We have a single source base — SuperApp and Tradernet, but each country contributes to the development, its own data, its own feedback. This allows us to learn faster and be flexible," explains Turlov.

From Almaty to the world

Freedom Finance is one of the few examples in the post—Soviet space where a fintech company has not just grown, but has been able to scale its model beyond the local market. Today, the holding is looking beyond Central Asia towards the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

"We don't pursue fashion. We are creating a working infrastructure for life — in numbers, in reality, in different countries," says Timur Turlov. And if this strategy continues to work, Freedom could become the first global ecosystem-based fintech brand from Eurasia.