The Central Bank (CB) of Uzbekistan issued a license to the Kazakhstani Tenge Bank, the press service of the regulator said.

“The Board of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan has decided to issue a license for the right to conduct banking operations to the joint-stock commercial bank Tenge Bank,” the CB said.

It should be noted that the People’s Bank of Kazakhstan became the first Kazakhstani bank with a subsidiary in Uzbekistan. It is now represented in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. The bank serves nearly 10 million customers. Of these, 7.2 million use more than one banking product.

In May 2018, the bank’s Chairman Umut Shayakhmetova told about the intentions of the People's Bank to enter the market of Uzbekistan.

“Today we are represented in five countries: Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. We have an interest to enter the market of Uzbekistan, because as Halyk Group we have already occupied a fairly large place and share not only in the market of Kazakhstan, but also in the CIS space. We are interested in Uzbekistan. Expansion into this market is planned to be made at the expense of equity capital,” Umut Shayakhmetova said then.