Moody's awarded Timur Turlov's daughter Freedom Holding the first rating with a stable outlook

The international rating agency Moody's Ratings has assigned Freedom Bank Kazakhstan JSC a long-term deposit rating of Ba3 with a stable outlook. This was reported in the press release of the financial institution on Wednesday, March 18.

This is the first rating of the bank from this agency of the "big three". Moody's decision highlights Freedom Bank's key role as the core of the rapidly growing fintech group Freedom Holding, which has been consistently building its own ecosystem and scaling its products to different countries in recent years.

"According to the agency, the bank's rating reflects a stable emerging lending model with key retail products such as mortgage loans and car loans, and also includes a moderate probability of the bank's support from the government of Kazakhstan (Baa1 level, stable outlook). Moody's experts also noted the moderation of the bank's credit risks and believe that during the forecast period the risks will remain restrained, given the low base of problem loans and the active build—up of reserves," the press release says.

The generally stable outlook indicates that there are no expectations of drastic changes in the bank's activities over the next 12-18 months.

In its report, Moody's describes Freedom Bank as a fast-growing universal institution, which is the banking division of the financial group Freedom Holding Corp. in Kazakhstan and specializing in retail and digital services. The agency's analysts emphasized that the bank plays a central role in Freedom Holding Corp.'s diversified ecosystem, which combines brokerage, insurance, telecommunications, and digital consumer services. The assessment was positively influenced by a reliable, albeit developing, lending model, as well as the high quality of the portfolio: the share of problem loans is only 2.9% with their full coverage of reserves (116%).

Two weeks before this event, another agency of the "big three" — S&P Global Ratings — confirmed the ratings of Freedom Holding Corp. and its subsidiaries, including Freedom Bank, maintaining a "positive" outlook on them. S&P experts appreciated the group's significant progress in creating a unified risk management and compliance system, sustainable profitability indicators and strengthening the holding's position far beyond Kazakhstan, as well as efforts to develop the holding's ecosystem.

Acquired in 2020, Freedom Bank became the core for the creation of a digital ecosystem for Timur Turlov, the founder of the group. It was this course, supported by a technological breakthrough, that formed the basis of the holding's development strategy after entering the Nasdaq stock Exchange in 2019. The culmination of this journey in April 2024 was the launch of the multifunctional SuperApp mobile application, which today is the main entry point into the ecosystem.

The effectiveness of the single Window strategy is confirmed by figures: almost two thirds of the bank's new customers come through the multifunctional application. Thanks to the integration of financial services with everyday digital services, an entire space has been created where users can pay and transfer, invest and save, buy air tickets, concert tickets, groceries and various goods with one click.

In less than a year and a half, the number of users of the application has grown from zero to 5 million people, and in 2025, the SuperApp customer base has almost doubled, and the application itself has become one of the most downloaded in Kazakhstan (first among the free ones in the AppStore and third on Android). In 2025, Freedom Bank became the absolute leader in attracting deposits in Kazakhstan, increasing its deposit base by almost 51% with an average market growth of 15%.

Customers also appreciate the convenience and speed of the services, which have become possible through the use of an innovative approach. For example, thanks to integration with government and commercial services, Freedom Bank can arrange digital mortgages and car loans completely online within 24 hours. The use of biometrics for identification makes many bureaucratic processes fast and remote.

The expansion of the Freedom ecosystem's orbit has led to the growth of the customer base of all the group's companies to 11 million customers in more than 20 countries around the world. Today, Freedom Bank is a key instrument for the strategic international expansion of the company's ecosystem, which is already present in 21 countries, including the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Freedom Holding Corp. He launched a bank in Tajikistan, obtained a banking license in Georgia, and on March 10, 2026, signed an agreement to purchase 99.32% of shares in Turkish Turkish Bank A.Ş.

According to Timur Turlov, the holding company "is going to Turkey with a digital product, an ecosystem, the core of which is SuperApp." The entrepreneur expressed confidence that the company will be able to effectively implement its technologies in this country and create a comprehensive ecosystem combining banking products, capital markets, payment services and retail investment solutions. This applies not only to the Turkish market.

Timur Turlov, founder of Freedom, is confident that the holding's digital platform, coupled with technology, is becoming a key gateway for deploying the group's unified fintech ecosystem in other countries, allowing for seamless integration of banking products, investments and everyday services for millions of users. According to Turlov, the company wants to serve customers in different countries and create new services, as it is confident in their uniqueness and practical benefits.

The holding's ambitions are not limited to regional expansion. So, the founder of Freedom talked about plans to buy a bank in Europe. He also does not rule out SuperApp's expansion into the US market, exploring options for obtaining a fintech license or partnering with a local bank.

At the same time, scaling takes place not only externally, but also within the home region. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Turlov announced his readiness to acquire another Kazakhstani bank with assets of at least $5 billion and capital of about $500 million to strengthen his position and gain access to the corporate customer base. In addition, the holding may soon announce the purchase of a marketplace in Kazakhstan for the development of e-commerce.

To finance such a large-scale expansion, Freedom Holding is considering new placements. After the non-deal roadshow in Hong Kong, the company is exploring the possibility of a secondary public offering of shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as well as the issuance of bonds for American investors in the amount of $300 to $500 million. In addition to dollar-denominated instruments, the possibility of placing bonds in yuan is being explored.

Freedom's commitment to achieving its goals is further fueled by the high level of trust from global institutional investors. For example, BlackRock, the world's largest investment company, invested in Freedom Holding Corp. almost $89 million, becoming the second largest co-owner of the holding, and the company's shares were included in the prestigious Russell 3000 indices.

According to Freedom Holding Corp., the transformation from a regional broker into a global technology player with its own physical and digital infrastructure, which began in the last decade, is in full swing, and the Moody's rating is just another confirmation of the correctness of the chosen course.

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