“On January 12, the Board of the Central Bank adopted a resolution to register Eurasian Bank JSC and to issue it a license to carry out banking activities in the territory of Uzbekistan,” the CB said in a statement.

In May 2023, the regulator issued preliminary permission to the Kazakh bank to open a subsidiary in Uzbekistan. Then the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Nodirbek Saidullaev, stated that he expected the subsidiary to start operating before the end of the year.

The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of Kazakhstan allowed the Eurasian Bank to operate in Uzbekistan at the end of 2022. Before this, the head of the bank, Valentin Morozov, in an interview noted the attractiveness of the banking market of the neighboring republic.

There are currently 36 banks in Uzbekistan. Of these, three received licenses last year - Yangi Bank (in May), Apex Bank and Hayot Bank (in March).