The event, held with the support of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan on June 21–22, 2023, took place in the capital of Uzbekistan for the third time and became one of the most significant summer events for all of Central Asia.
Compared to previous years’ events, both the conference portion and the exhibition part of the Forum became larger in scale. This year, more than 2500 applications for participation were submitted, which is a 40% increase in the number of delegates compared to the already successful PLUS-Forum in 2022, as well as over 100 exhibitors from 31 countries worldwide.
Over 110 key speakers, including experts from the banking and financial industry, representatives of regulatory bodies, IT, retail trade, and other sectors, spoke at the largest forum in Central Asia.
The rich agenda of the conference sessions covered issues concerning the further development of fintech, banking, eGOV, Islamic finance, CBDCs, cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, ECOM, IT, cybersecurity, remote identification, SMEs, retail, and more.
The panel sessions addressed topics such as transforming banking into Finance as a Service, Islamic finance, remote identification as an essential element of modern society, big data, and many other subjects.
Visa served as the title sponsor.
On the first day of the conference, over 50 speakers took the stage at the Forum. Experts shared their experience developing key fintech and retail areas in Uzbekistan and Central Asian countries and discussed the choice of promising formats.
Session 1. Further Digitalization — A Global Trend in the Banking Business
Uzbekistan is at the stage of investing in the fintech sector. So stated Deputy Director General of the Agency for Strategic Reforms under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Abdulla Abdukadirov, during the panel session “Further Digitalization — A Global Trend in the Banking Business.”
In his speech, the speaker noted that although the Law “On E-commerce” and other regulatory legal acts were adopted in Uzbekistan last year, the legislative framework in the country still lags behind somewhat. Currently, the government of Uzbekistan is working on creating a law on fintech, which may include issues of digital banking, cryptocurrency exchange and cryptocurrency regulation, support for fintech startup initiators, and scaling successful business enterprises.
Uzbekistan is experiencing rapid development in financial technologies, said Viktor Dostov, Chairman of the Association of Electronic Money and Money Transfer Market Participants (AED). In his presentation, the expert examined the main trends in the evolution of the financial ecosystem. According to him, today banks have ceased competing via products, and in light of nearly identical offerings, customer loyalty is declining. Meanwhile, the state has ceased to be a passive observer, actively developing market regulation.
Under these new conditions, ecosystem players also find themselves winning. At the same time, noted Viktor Dostov, there is concern that banks are gradually losing their digital advantages, ceding that ground to non-bank entities entering the financial segment.
The expert highlighted another trend: large manufacturers are beginning to displace online retail by offering direct supply to customers. In his opinion, banks may find themselves in a similar situation, eventually being effectively pushed out of the market by ecosystem structures and by such instruments as, for example, the digital ruble.
At the same time, banks’ overall position remains strong, so the main thing for them is not to lose the initiative.
Kristina Dorosh, Vice President and Regional Manager of Visa in Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan, summarized Visa’s 30 years of work in the country and outlined the further prospects of Uzbekistan’s digital economy.
In her talk, she listed the main milestones of Visa’s work in Uzbekistan. Among recent projects, she mentioned launching e-commerce services via Visa cards, the Solfy installment card based on the Visa Platinum card, the introduction of credit cards with an interest-free period issued by Uzbekpromstroybank in 2022, as well as the global telephone number-based transfer service Visa Direct launched the same year. This service allows money transfers between individuals more quickly and securely. Over the last 5 years, Visa has invested over $9 billion in digital security.
Another trend is that young people continue to actively use the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) system: 36% of Gen Z and 41% of millennials.
Notably, one of the highlights of the PLUS-Forum “Fintech, Banks, and Retail” was the signing of an agreement between Mikrokreditbank and Visa, in which Kristina Dorosh took part.
According to Ikram Dzhumaniyazov, Deputy Chairman of Mikrokreditbank, this agreement will expand the bank’s portfolio of client offerings through Visa products.
The event also featured several other important public signing sessions. For instance, the international company CloudPayments, Bronze sponsor of the PLUS-Forum “Fintech, Banks, and Retail,” signed cooperation agreements with the international delivery service Broniboy and the international pizza chain Dodo Pizza. From now on, payment via UzCard, Humo, Visa, and Mastercard in Broniboy and Dodo Pizza mobile apps, as well as on the Dodo Pizza website, will be facilitated by CloudPayments’ online acquiring service.
In turn, the largest commercial bank in Uzbekistan, Kapitalbank, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with BS/2, the Forum’s Main Sponsor. According to the document, clients will have convenient access to financial services through an expanded network of modern ATMs.
Central Asia has become an arena of competition between banks and non-bank entities. This conclusion was reached by Dzhan Shamsiev, Head of Operations for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the financial sector in Central Asia.
The expert examined key trends in the global banking market, primarily driven by the rapid development of the internet and the consumer’s unprecedented freedom of choice. Against this backdrop, banks, in his view, are now seeking solutions to reclaim their market share from fintech. At the same time, Central Asia has become one of the most active arenas where banks and non-bank entities compete.
Pavel Baburin, Director of Strategic Projects at Innotech, spoke about the nuances of building a high-tech bridge between the client and the bank.
He noted that, based on observations, the experience of developing mobile banking in Uzbekistan can be considered unique. There is high penetration of payment apps and services, excellent prerequisites for developing broadband mobile internet, an openness to partnerships among market players, the growth of complex business service functionalities in banks, and fast development of mobile apps.
A digitally based platform is essential for harmonious development, offering benefits such as reduced time to market for products, increased speed of development, personalized offers, new revenue sources, and an effective cross-sell and up-sell tool.
Thanks to a digital banking platform, tasks like ensuring a unified customer experience across all possible customer channels, removing the need for complicated technical specs to upgrade systems when updating customer portfolios, and offloading part of the business services logic from the ABS become feasible, thanks to an intuitive interface when creating new products.
The universal constructor showcased by the presenter allows integration with any bank information systems (digital channels, banking products, etc.) and configures processes regardless of differences in how information exchange is implemented (support for synchronous and asynchronous formats).
Aydos Zhumagulov, Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Freedom Bank, shared the experience of implementing digital mortgages and digital auto loans. The speaker noted that, from the start, choosing its business strategy, the bank focused heavily on government services, seeing in GovTech enormous potential. At the same time, it was clear that processes like mortgages and auto loans were inefficiently structured at many banks. Proper digital organization of these processes allowed Freedom Bank to quickly gain a significant market share.
Continuing the discussion of digital mortgages, the speaker highlighted their advantages, including the ability to assess the value of an apartment in just one second. Aydos Zhumagulov also talked about a digital auto loan for pre-owned cars. He emphasized that, while implementing this service, the bank built a three-part model that allows them to evaluate the buyer, the seller, and the car itself without even looking under the hood, seeing how long the car has been on the market, if it’s been in accidents, and so on. “Today, Big Data can make more accurate decisions than a person,” the speaker believes.
Summarizing his speech, Aydos Zhumagulov noted that digitalization allows us to answer the main question, which is not where to find a customer but how prepared the bank is to accept and serve them. And today, thanks in large part to digital products, Freedom Bank’s assets are growing.
A key driver behind the growth in security budgets is the pursuit of compliance — concluded Georgy Shebuldaev, CEO of Sababa Security Central Asia. The expert discussed current digital risks and shared his view on cybersecurity and fraud in Uzbekistan. According to him, carrying out fraud is currently simpler and safer than conducting a cyberattack. Thus, fraud is the more pressing threat at this moment, but that won’t always be the case. As evidence, he cited several recent cyberattacks in various countries that cost tens or even hundreds of millions of US dollars.
The speaker then examined the key drivers of growing cybersecurity budgets in Uzbekistan, noting that 69% of this growth comes from businesses’ desire to meet regulatory safety requirements.
Session 2. Payment Methods. Best Business Cases in Retail Banking
Transition to digital payments will give a new impulse to Uzbekistan’s economy — that’s the belief of Elena Novoselova, CEO of FINIX YnP. During her speech, the expert noted that today a number of payment systems operate on Uzbekistan’s market, and the next trend will be the consolidation of market participants, which will require them to make certain infrastructural, technological, and tariff-related adjustments.
This consolidation will also require some efforts from the regulator in terms of regulating tariffs and the like.
In the speaker’s view, a potential increase in acquiring fees, contrary to expectations, would have a positive effect on the development of the country’s retail trade. Such a step would force retailers to objectively assess their expenses for handling cash turnover, while the increased revenue of acquiring banks would allow them “to fully create a transactional glue to attract customers.”
Nurbol Omarkhanov, Director of International Business Development at PayPorter, spoke about the development of money transfer and acquiring services in Turkey based on a new unique product that is now being offered, including to CIS countries.
Marcus Treacher, Executive Chairman at RTGS.global, offered an interesting rethinking of the role and place of cross-border settlements and instant payments in his presentation.
Meanwhile, Murat Kastan, Commercial Director at UPT, told conference participants how to create an app for money transfers with additional services.
The mobile payment services market will grow by 20% annually — this forecast was made by Stepan Pashko, Director of International Development at MaxyPay.
During his speech, the expert reviewed global statistics on mobile payment usage by region and country. The average Apple Pay check worldwide is $28.25, while Google Pay’s is $33.45. Meanwhile, Apple Pay is used by 535.8 million users worldwide, and Google Pay by 150 million. In Central Asia, all three key global mobile services (including Samsung Pay) are currently only available in Kazakhstan, but interest in them is high.
Discussing directions for further development of mobile payments, the expert highlighted how these services spread inside social networks and messengers, the increasing role of biometrics, the universalization of transport payments, and the expansion of the range of “smart” and wearable devices. According to Stepan Pashko’s forecasts, the volume of such payments will continue to grow by 20% annually.
Aset Nurpeisov, CEO at Bukhta, talked about the capabilities of a company product that provides accounting management within online banking.
Aleksey Fedorov, Senior Managing Director of NSD for Development and Client Relations, examined a pressing issue: the development of a financial message transmission system for cross-border settlements, using SPFS as a global communication network example.
Session 2A. Trajectories for the Development of Uzbekistan’s Banking Market. Promising Solutions. MSME Digitalization
The sales model for business cards has changed thanks to the arrival of fintech and neobanks, concluded Anna Tikhonova, Senior Director for Business Solutions CEMEA at Visa. In her talk, she discussed the potential for business card development in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The speaker noted that Uzbekistan’s market is currently unaddressed and very strong. She also explained in detail the main advantages of business cards for SMEs.
“Uzbekistan is actively transitioning to a cashless economy, which provides additional opportunities for SME clients,” Anna Tikhonova said. Currently, over 1.1 million SMEs are registered in Uzbekistan.
Speaking of business cards, the speaker noted that when launching business card issuance, Visa Risk Management always sets up and coordinates limits and restrictions to protect against illegitimate use. Every payment is processed using the highest security standards and advanced information protection technologies.
In her conclusions, the expert noted that banks have ample opportunity for income growth in the SME segment, provided they build a quality product offering. Moreover, besides traditional financial services, SMEs expect simplicity, convenience, and business management assistance from banks. At the same time, the essential prerequisites for a good customer experience include familiar card products, quick issuance, and ease of use.
Session 3. From Cash Circulation to Payments and Banking. ATM and POS-Terminal Networks. Banking Self-Service
A joint presentation by Kirill Ovsyannikov, Deputy CEO for Strategy and Planning at BS/2, and Denis Kohaev, Head of Business Technical Support at Kapitalbank, attracted special attention from the Forum audience.
Currently, Kapitalbank, which is part of the Uzum digital system, serves over 1.5 million individuals and is the largest private retail bank on Uzbekistan’s market. Meanwhile, implementing automated service points has allowed the bank not only to improve the customer experience but also to optimize cash handling.
Right now, Uzbekistan has one ATM for every 14–15 thousand residents. By comparison, in Europe, one machine serves between 3 and 5 thousand inhabitants. Moreover, in 2022, the volume of cash withdrawals in Uzbekistan grew by 157%, and the Central Bank released a total of 17 trillion sums in cash into circulation.
Thus, Kapitalbank’s SMATR-ATM project proved to be highly in demand on the market. Thanks to software solutions from BS/2, a number of relevant services have already been implemented, including accepting payments and working with a card account without a card. Plans are now underway to integrate the system with payment operators in Uzbekistan.
Maksim Metelkin from the BFS Group dispelled myths surrounding the production of the first Russian ATMs. In his presentation, he talked about the current BFS ATM lineup, as well as the specifics of its production, which not only covers all current needs of the Russian market but can also supply banking self-service devices to several regions globally, including the Middle East and Central Asia.
As the speaker emphasized, the creation of the first domestic ATMs was built on BFS’s 20 years of experience in the field of banking self-service systems.
Cash disbursement at merchants’ checkouts is not an alternative to ATMs — the independent expert Svetlana Iglinskaya is convinced of this. Analyzing the practice and prospects of the popular service of cash withdrawals at retail locations, the speaker noted that it is relevant both for residents of remote areas and large cities.
The expert reminded that the universal practice is to allow cash withdrawal only when a purchase is made. Thus, this service shouldn’t be positioned as an alternative to ATMs. Instead, the service is intended to further reassure the mass consumer that cash remains accessible and that there’s no need to withdraw it at the first opportunity “just in case.”
Session 3A. Security. Cyberthreats, Social Engineering, and Other Current Challenges
Nursultan Aripov, Chief Expert of the Security and Information Protection Department at the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan, gave a talk titled “Cybersecurity in the Era of Digitalization: Challenges, Modern Types of Fraud, and Protection Methods.”
Iskandar Aysaev, Head of the Hardware Testing Laboratory at the State Unitary Enterprise Cybersecurity Center, discussed key issues in cybersecurity provision. The expert identified four main cybersecurity threats in cyberspace. First, not only individuals but also organizations and states are under attack. Second, cyberattacks are difficult to detect and halt, as well as to trace back to their creators, and cyberspace is governed by different laws and jurisdictions. Third, the level of cybertechnology development does not match many users’ readiness to address cyberthreats, from reluctance to use complex passwords to the inability to use antivirus programs. The expert identifies the shortage of well-trained cybersecurity professionals as the fourth problem.
Unsurprisingly, human error accounts for 90% of cyber incidents. In conclusion, the expert emphasized that exploiting inattention, ignorance, or carelessness is simpler and cheaper than trying to outsmart advanced software.
Vladimir Ivanov, Business Development Director at Uzguard, addressed practical issues surrounding the use of e-signatures and multi-factor authentication technologies for cybersecurity.
Ronald Allen, General Manager EMEA at Futurex, in turn, explained how HSM modules protect payment transactions and data, paying special attention to trends emerging for the first time in 2023 and offering forecasts for subsequent years.
Aziz Kayumov, Head of the Strategic Development Department at the Republican Telecommunication Network Management Center of Uzbekistan, described a system for analyzing and managing subscriber events. He explained how the system preempts financial fraudsters.
The first step is monitoring suspicious subscriber activity in the network. More than 25 types of events can catch attention, for instance, a subscriber simultaneously changing their number and SIM card, or dynamically changing locations, where within one minute the subscriber appears in Samarkand instead of Tashkent.
The second step is to pass information about such a subscriber on to financial institutions.
The third step is processing the received information, and the subscriber flagged in the anti-fraud system is then monitored.
Session 4. Payment Business. Infrastructure Development
Uzbekistan’s market showed a doubling of cashless payment volumes — announced Dzhamshid Usmanov, Deputy Director of the Payment Systems Department at the Central Bank of Uzbekistan. According to the expert, the population of the Republic of Uzbekistan today is 36 million, 75% of whom use banking services, meaning they have bank accounts.
Currently, there are 37.5 million payment cards in circulation nationwide, 6.2 million of which belong to international payment systems.
Results from 2022 show that Uzbekistan’s volume of cashless payments nearly doubled compared to the previous year.
Among the Central Bank of Uzbekistan’s current tasks, Dzhamshid Usmanov named the coordination of public activities to improve the population’s financial literacy, further popularizing cashless payments, and attracting global payment service operators.
The HUMO payment system is expanding international cooperation in Central Asia — stated its Director, Shukhratbek Kurbanov. According to the speaker, partners have reached a joint acquiring agreement with the Elcart National Payment System. Now, citizens of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan who visit these neighboring republics can pay with their own cards exactly as they do at home, with no additional fees, etc.
The HUMO payment system recently reached a similar agreement with one of Kazakhstan’s banks.
Anton Lazebny, Partner at ENFINT, and Igor Kotenko, Chief Architect at the company, delivered a presentation titled “Evolution and Implementation of Innovative Payment Products in a Microservices Architecture.”
A step toward a unified QR code has been taken — noted Kirill Palchun, Head of the “Money Transfer and Payment System” stream at MTS. During his speech, the expert briefly covered the history of contactless payments, pointing out that just two years ago, Google Pay and Apple Pay accounted for up to 40% of the Russian market. In his opinion, the market will continue migrating from interbank payment solutions to a variety of payment services.
Meanwhile, QR-code payments occupy a special place here. For instance, regulators in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan are already considering introducing a unified payment QR code. In turn, many banks are planning to support at least two QR payment standards in their mobile apps soon.
The demand for financial services in Uzbekistan has grown by 118.4% — these figures were cited by Orlando Castellanos, Head of Business Development at NETinfo Pls. He shared his views on the transformation of the Uzbek banking system at the PLUS-Forum “Fintech, Banks, and Retail.” According to the speaker, over the next five years, 95% of banking operations will be performed through digital channels. Against this backdrop, he proposed the question: “Are banks and their customers ready for this?”
Orlando Castellanos discussed key trends in the market, placing special emphasis on managed services, AI and machine learning, and an omnichannel approach to delivering products and services. The expert paid particular attention to a platform for interaction with digital banking, listing several key factors for adapting to that interaction, including the use of managed services and the search for appropriate partners.
Tatyana Markina, Commercial Director for CIS and Far Abroad Countries at m4bank, spoke about SoftPOS solutions (including SmartPOS terminals) and Directpos.
The solutions operate on the M4bank platform — a multivendor platform for remote access to banking services. M4bank.SoftPOS is a modern alternative to expensive POS terminals that requires no additional equipment and uses a smartphone for payment acceptance. It’s a lightweight, flexible payment device that’s always at hand.
Center of Corporate Technologies is a constant and honored guest of the PLUS-Forum. In 2023, it was a Gold sponsor of the event.
Session 4A. Innovative Solutions for Digitalization. Neobanks. Challenges and Opportunities in the Era of Digital Transformation
The second day of the PLUS-Forum was equally eventful. In particular, panel sessions covered topics such as turning banking into Finance as a Service, Islamic finance, remote identification as an essential element of modern society, big data, and many other topics.
Session 5. The Transformation Process 2023. Turning Banking into Finance as a Service
Eurasian Bank is opening a subsidiary in Uzbekistan — stated Lyazzat Satieva, Chairwoman of the Board of Eurasian Bank. According to the expert, Eurasian Bank is currently present in almost all regions of Kazakhstan, and the bank is actively expanding internationally. Right now, it’s in the process of opening a subsidiary bank in Uzbekistan.
Addressing the bank’s achievements in recent years, she mentioned the high level of digitalization in business processes, as well as synergy between retail and corporate business.
Talgat Ayupov, Chairman of the Board of Tenge Bank, discussed bank digitalization. According to the speaker, digitization is a large-scale, comprehensive effort, but the results have propelled the bank to third place in auto lending, enabling many other achievements.
He paid particular attention to areas like digital onboarding, card machines, online deposits and microloans, and installment plans consistent with all Islamic finance requirements. Opening the Tenge Market marketplace plays a special role in the bank’s business growth.
Client liquidity continues to rise, opening new prospects for them. About 99% of the bank’s microloans are issued online; the same figure for loans is 70%.
Analyzing banking prospects, Talgat Ayupov highlighted Scoring 2.0, integration with GovTech, and the ongoing merger and acquisition of banks and fintech entities.
Sharing the experience of issuing the first true credit card in Uzbekistan, Shohpur Gulturaev, Deputy Chairman of the Board and member of the Board at Uzpromstroybank (SQB), stated that launching a full-fledged credit card with a grace period and so forth required upgrading the bank’s processing system. Implementing the WAY4 system took a year, but the result was worth it. A large transnational team was created for the project.
Legislative support by the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which launched, among other things, a regulatory sandbox, also played a role.
These initiatives will significantly simplify the launch of subsequent credit card issuance projects by other market participants.
Currently, the bank has received 30,000 applications for the new card, which is quite good for the project’s first month. They plan to reach 100,000 cardholders.
Aleksey Rundasov, Commercial Director at Data Sapience, and Rustam Khalikov, First Deputy General Director for Pre-Export and Export Insurance at the UzbekInvest insurance company, talked about the specifics, goals, and objectives of implementing a real-time decision-making system. Implementing a decision-making system coupled with predictive models helps optimize and automate the process of assessing risks when insuring new customers. Using machine learning models, the insurance company can more accurately identify potentially high-loss customers and take on more low-risk customers in its portfolio. The decision-making system, in turn, automates this process, accounting for all the specifics of the insurance company’s business processes. The result is increased business margin and market share. The Talys.SDE product from Data Sapience is used for this business solution.
Yuliya Vdovina, Product Director for Customer Service Digitalization in Remote Channels at U-BSS, shared her experience digitalizing customer processes in banking with participants at the PLUS-Forum “Fintech, Banks, and Retail.”
She emphasized the continuing importance of physical service points, noting that banks still largely dictate the interaction rules to customers, with each channel functioning independently. However, it’s already time to transition to a new level of relationships where the customer can dictate the rules of communication. Here, it’s necessary to achieve high synergy among various channels of customer interaction. For example, branches should actively promote mobile banking, etc., while the customer journey needs to be seamless.
The speaker focused on possible uses for speech analytics in contact centers.
Ulugbek Safabaev, Director of the Project Management Department at Fido-Biznes, discussed banks’ transition to “Unified MFO” technology. He mentioned the advantages of migrating to this technology, including optimizing management staff, reducing administrative costs, and improving the customer experience. He also shared details of his company’s completed projects at Uzbek banks, showcasing video clips featuring bank representatives.
The second part of Ulugbek Safabaev’s presentation focused on the possibilities of a corporate digital platform based on microservices architecture.
The PLUS-Forum “Fintech, Banks, and Retail” devoted considerable attention to Islamic banking and its need for innovative technology.
For example, Tatyana Yaroshenko, Senior Presales Consultant at Temenos, spoke about the vendor’s digital solution for Islamic banking.
The company’s solution ships in a boxed format, with all processes pre-configured to comply with Shariah norms.
As noted by Artyom Popov, Deputy Product Development Director at Foranx, “we traditionally find common ground with our customers.” In January, Temenos opened an office in Tashkent, and Foranx provides first-line support.
Presentations by Roman Solovyev from E-ngineers Europe AB, Sweden, and Andrey Tikhiy, Sales and Development Director for Oracle Financial Products in the CIS region, addressed questions of localizing Oracle FlexCube for Uzbekistan’s market.
Dmitriy Filinov, Deputy CEO for Strategy and Business Development at TECHNO, spoke to participants of the PLUS-Forum “Fintech, Banks, and Retail” about the capabilities of Terus, a processing solution. According to the speaker, Terus is the world’s first solution built on open source while also using a microservices architecture.
Among its features are high reliability (99.99%) from a microservices architecture, simple and hassle-free installation of new versions and updates, and much more. Terus can be used in-house, hosted in the cloud, or as cloud-based processing.
Session 5A. Islamic Financing and Islamic Banking in Central Asian Countries. Current Status and Prospects
Discussing the principles of an Islamic economy and Islamic banking, Khondamir Nusratkhuzhaev, a member of AAOIFI (Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions), explained how Islamic finance differs from a traditional profit-centric system.
The speaker views it as a sort of detox for modern financial economics, an alternative model based on the sanctity of human dignity and property, which cannot be violated or exploited, just as one cannot exploit ignorance of certain points by one party in a transaction. Under this system, credit must be interest-free and essentially serve as assistance, while financial risks are fairly distributed. Such an approach brings financial inclusion to any secular country, enabling peaceful coexistence among different social groups and serving as a method for humanistic development. For this reason, as the speaker noted, Islamic finance is growing all over the world.
Zokhid Alimov, Chairman of the Board at HAYOT BANK, discussed the demand for Islamic finance in Uzbekistan. He expressed his view on the great prospects for Islamic finance in Uzbekistan, as 90% of the country’s 36 million population is Muslim. Transparency and ethics in this system, as well as the prohibition on usury and fair distribution of risk and profit, make Islamic finance particularly attractive.
Currently, Uzbekistan is working on legislation enabling the Islamic finance system to operate.
Islamic banking could attract up to $10 billion to Uzbekistan annually, said Bahrom Numonov, Chairman of the Board at Apex bank. The speaker noted that because the majority of the population in the country is Muslim, there is growing demand for Islamic financing products. He stressed that the demand for Islamic financing is also growing worldwide. Currently, total Islamic finance assets globally amount to nearly $4 trillion. Returning to the topic of Islamic finance in Uzbekistan, the expert added that Islamic banking could attract up to $10 billion a year to Uzbekistan. Approximately 20% of the country’s citizens do not use the traditional credit system for religious reasons.
“At the moment, regulatory sandboxes have been created in the country to test Islamic financial products. Ministries and the Central Bank are working to create a legal framework for Islamic finance,” concluded Bahrom Numonov.
Session 6. Remote Identification — an Essential Element of Modern Society. Biometrics — from Public Services to Banking and Retail
Pavel Shust, International Consultant on Digital Financial Services at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Executive Director at AED, discussed the role of infrastructure projects in business development, as well as their potential for cross-border cooperation. He used real-time payment systems and similar-scale projects as an example.
As the speaker noted, more and more countries are moving toward centralization and digital profile systems. Meanwhile, the eIDAS 2.0 concept is receiving an additional boost.
Among the main infrastructure elements, the expert listed localized payment card processing (so-called payment nationalism), credit bureaus, e-invoicing, and others.
Particular attention was paid to why market participants in the Central Asian region should look toward regional integration.
Rustam Alavutdinov, Head of Partner Relations at Uzinfocom, shared with Tashkent PLUS-Forum participants his experience implementing projects in the field of biometric identification using the MyID service. According to the speaker, the solution is now being readied for promotion in the markets of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as in the Middle East region.
Concluding marriage by push notification is becoming a reality? Such a technology is already in use in Kazakhstan, reported Nariman Mukushev, Deputy Chairman of the Board at Halyk. After consolidating all public services for the population in 2007 at the People’s Service Center, a denationalization of public services was carried out. Since then, Halyk, which provides services to the population, has operated in three directions. We’re talking about SmartBridge, an information gateway uniting the state’s and business’s information systems, along with a project in biometric identification accelerated by the pandemic and a service for controlling access to electronic data that allows citizens to manage their consent via an electronic cabinet.
Out of the 5 million services rendered to the population in 2023, they include electronic filing of tax returns auto-completed by the system, reissuing driver’s licenses with delivery of new ones, and purchasing cinema or concert tickets. Along with those services, Kazakhstan residents have also started using an app-based marriage registration service. A man or woman (with complete equality) sends a request to their fiancé(e), who receives a push notification stating that a specific person wants to marry him or her. The only thing left to do is click “Agree” or “Decline.”
Evgeniy Zaika, Business Development Director at VisionLabs, explained the merits of combining computer vision with artificial intelligence.
As the speaker mentioned at the session “Remote Identification — an Essential Element of Modern Society. Biometrics — from Public Services to Banking and Retail,” the company’s solutions can predict a person’s behavior from their posture. For instance, if a bank employee raises their hands in front of a robber, the neural network automatically sends a distress signal.
On the other hand, the company’s technology can recognize a client upon entering the bank, send them a greeting, prepare their CRM profile, and even allow them to withdraw cash from their account without a card.
Liveness technology, capable of “seeing” a criminal’s face through virtually any disguise, was presented by Hasanbek Umarov, Director of TAD Industries.
The technology enables facial recognition with more than 90% accuracy even in the dark or through a motorcycle helmet, let alone a mask. If the system cannot “see” the offender in existing conditions, silhouette recognition is activated, letting it track the offender across all available surveillance cameras until it finds a place where their face can be recognized.
This video analytics system has wide applications. In public safety, for ensuring the safety and comfort of passengers at transportation facilities, searching for missing persons, and investigating crimes. In financial services, preventing fraud and improving customer service. In industry, security and access control for production facilities.
The number of cybercrimes in Tashkent has increased fortyfold in two years. This statistic was provided by Erkin Narmetov, Technical Director at TAD Industries, in his presentation. The total number of cybercrimes in the republic’s capital rose from 106 in 2021 to 2081 in 2022 and 4332 in 2023, for a 4087% increase. The majority of cybercrimes—2747 cases in 2023—are theft from bank cards.
Mira Kuderinova, Managing Director at Kolesa in Kazakhstan (Kolesa Group), advisor to the Chairman of the Association “Digital Kazakhstan,” explained the launch of remote contract signing in the Kolesa Group product. According to the speaker, GR is a complex direction that includes interaction with the government on many fronts. Notably, the service “Krysha Agents” enables realtors and real estate sellers to sign contracts remotely. To do this, an arrangement was reached with “Kolesa Bank” to use its biometric identification system for non-financial operations. The company intends to replicate this experience in Uzbekistan.
Session 6A. Crypto Industry. State, Trends, Forecasts. Asset Tokenization, Fintech Platforms, and Distributed Data Ledgers. Blockchain
Robert Cortnidge, Independent Consultant, addressed “The Future of Money: How Crypto Will Affect Your Business and Why You Should Prepare for a New Era of Stablecoins and CBDCs.”
Vyacheslav Pak, First Deputy Director of the National Agency for Advanced Projects of the Republic of Uzbekistan, analyzed relevant issues related to regulating crypto asset circulation and the industry’s prospects in Uzbekistan.
Nargiza Miralimova, Director of the CryptoMAG crypto store, spoke about the development of crypto asset service providers in Uzbekistan, using her own crypto store as an example.
What is the role of banks in the crypto industry? This question was answered by Natalya Romenskaya, Advisor to the Chairman of the Board at Eurasian Bank. The speaker noted that states typically adopt different positions on cryptocurrency: some claim it does not exist, others allow it then clamp down, and a third group proceeds cautiously, not banning crypto but permitting it very carefully.
However, one cannot deny the significance of cryptocurrency. Recall that when Bitcoin first appeared, it was worth one dollar; it is now about 27 thousand dollars. Some 700 transactions with crypto assets occur daily on the network. The volume of transactions on crypto exchanges is over $1 billion, with 216 crypto exchanges currently operating worldwide. Over 15 countries officially permit cryptocurrency circulation. This shows that any economy and any business go through certain stages of maturity.
“Currently, we are at a stage of legalization and regulation. This is a maturity level that we must go through now, and every country does so differently,” the speaker added.
Continuing the topic, she mentioned not only the positives but also the negatives of crypto, which she identified as volatility, the lack of a responsible owner, lack of uniform rules and oversight for compliance, and lack of safety guarantees. Thus, banks are emerging because, in the expert’s view, they’re needed to ensure stability and fair “rules of the game” for economic participants and clients.
Islam Yerzhan, Head of the Analysis and Research Center at the National Payment Corporation of Kazakhstan, shared his study on introducing and developing the digital tenge.
In his report, the speaker emphasized that the digital tenge represents a third form of payment in addition to cash and non-cash. Digital tenge has not only the features it borrows from cash and non-cash but also its own properties.
The expert described the opportunities presented by DT, including preparing for new challenges in tokenization, DLT, and DeFi, making non-cash payments more accessible in areas with limited internet coverage, and offering the market opportunities to create new products and business models.
“Digital tenge is not a replacement but an addition to the existing system. It’s a payment instrument, not an investment vehicle. This means no interest is accrued on digital tenge. We chose this approach because we don’t want to ‘destroy’ the existing financial system or create additional competition for banks. Therefore, we see the digital tenge as purely a payment tool,” the speaker added.
According to the expert, the digital tenge will accelerate and reduce the cost of cross-border payments. A technological feature of DT is the low cost of transactions, as well as a shorter time to execute them, which is highly relevant for cross-border payments.
Uzbekistan has issued its first license for crypto depository activities — reported Kamronbek Muhammadiev, Head of the Sector for Special Regulation of Crypto Asset Circulation (“Regulatory Sandbox”) at the National Agency for Advanced Projects of Uzbekistan.
The speaker provided a detailed overview of how Uzbekistan regulates crypto asset circulation and its industry’s prospects. He noted that NAPP is the single regulator for developing the crypto asset sector in the country and that cryptocurrency cannot be used as a means of payment or acceptance of payment in Uzbekistan.
In his presentation, the expert discussed one of the NAPP’s newest innovations — establishing and operating a specialized laboratory for testing and studying innovative crypto asset technologies.
The speaker also addressed how NAPP institutes a Special Regulatory Regime for crypto asset circulation, which creates special organizational and legal conditions for legal entities implementing crypto asset technologies. Specifically, “Special Regime” participants are exempt from all types of taxes and mandatory payments, as well as customs fees (except customs duties) for imports of equipment, parts, and components for their own needs not manufactured in the Republic of Uzbekistan, along with other benefits. Two projects are currently implemented in the country under this regime:
- Deployment of NFT certificates based on Distributed Ledger (blockchain) technology for domain names in the “.UZ” zone — LLC “UZINFOCOM.”
- Development and implementation of a “Crypto Card” banking product — Kapitalbank.
The speaker noted that interest in the crypto industry is growing in Uzbekistan. In 2021, there was one licensed crypto exchange. In 2022, four crypto stores and one crypto depository appeared on the national crypto market, contributing over 6.5 billion sums to the state budget and creating more than 40 new jobs.
Session 7. Big Data. The Strategic Capital of the 21st Century?
Cloud platforms elevate data handling to a new level — so said Sergey Sorokin, Business Development Director at Yandex Cloud CIS. The speaker gave a talk titled “From Raw Data to Managerial Decisions,” discussing how and why cloud technologies can be useful for decision-making. As companies grow, they “accumulate” various IT systems, each requiring specific data.
A number of problems may arise: data are not collected or stored properly, are not analyzed, or not shown in time. Cloud platforms help solve these issues thanks to their capabilities and the expertise of their providers.
Sergey Sorokin devoted special attention to the Yandex Cloud platform’s capabilities, illustrating with several specific case studies, including from VTB Bank, Leroy Merlin, and Kazakhstan’s 1FIT.
Aleksandr Chulapov, Head of Business Sales Support at Datatech, discussed approaches and solutions aimed at developing Big Data and AI in financial institutions. According to the speaker, external expertise is needed when implementing such projects, as well as a clear understanding of how to ensure ROI.
Classic directions related to data storage and AI remain relevant, while other points are simply derivatives. At the same time, projects in this area often face failure. According to statistics, 85% of Big Data, BI analytics, and AI initiatives end in failure.
One way out, the speaker noted, is to partner with a market leader. In this context, Datatech’s expertise and competencies attract market participants’ attention.
Bolat Taymagambetov, an expert at DIS Group, examined how a unified data management platform can benefit a digital bank. As is known, data is the new asset of any organization. Yet banks constantly face numerous problems and challenges in this area. In that context, 68% of executives predict that by 2024, investment in data management will increase. In his talk, the speaker showed a conceptual architecture for a digital company, demonstrating where data management fits in.
He devoted particular attention to building a unified data management platform within the Data 4.0 concept and the so-called data factory. Essentially, this is an assembly line for quickly locating and processing data, with a data catalog as its core.
Bolat Taymagambetov also spoke about the role of a client’s digital profile and the benefits of using it effectively.
Big geodata can help optimize the ATM business and cash collection — believes Maksim Ignatov, Head of Sales for Data and Technologies at the 2GIS Management Company. The speaker’s presentation was devoted to the practical application of Big Data. Drawing on data from the 2GIS app, the speaker analyzed statistics on Tashkent residents’ bank-related queries. As a result, they identified areas with high demand for ATM services, etc., including ATMs accessible within a 10-minute walk or drive. With the help of this data, one can objectively assess how well any given region is served by ATMs.
Another direction for using this approach is solutions for cash collection and closed systems, enabling the deployment of complete 2GIS maps and geoanalytics services on customers’ secure servers.
The total user base for 2GIS services is currently 63 million people.
Open banking in Kazakhstan will be launched as early as 2025, declared Zhanar Samaeva, Managing Director of the National Payment Corporation of Kazakhstan. According to her, open data can change the paradigm of banking itself.
Analyzing the prospects for open banking in Kazakhstan, the expert noted several positive aspects that significantly expand opportunities for the banking business and improve consumer experience.
Looking at global open banking practices, Zhanar Samaeva noted that among the roughly 50 countries that in one way or another are implementing this initiative today, there are different approaches — some regulated top-down by the regulator and others in which each market participant resolves these questions individually.
At present, 12 banks plan to participate in the relevant pilot project in Kazakhstan.
Round Table “Uzbekistan’s Retail Trade. The Current State of e-Commerce. Key Trends. New Challenges and Promising Solutions”
As noted by Sardor Kadyrov, Director of Government Relations at Wildberries, Uzbekistan, ten times more are needed. At the round table, he said that in the first hours after Wildberries opened in Uzbekistan, there were hundreds of registrations; many arrived from Russia, and many operated via a Russian legal entity.
“Currently, more than 2,000 sellers in Uzbekistan are selling their products through Wildberries. For Uzbekistan, that isn’t much. We need 17–20 thousand sellers placing their products in domestic and foreign markets,” emphasized Sardor Kadyrov.
Aleksey Ivanov of CX Lab outlined two main challenges not yet resolved by Uzbekistan’s marketplaces. The first is lack of transparency, which causes unpredictable purchases, because frequently a product listing is carelessly completed, and under the photo of a single teaspoon there may actually be a set of nine teaspoons, but the buyer only discovers this post-purchase.
The second issue is that a marketplace customer is often forced to take extra steps: an additional phone call from the courier to clarify the address, sending geo-data not only to the operator but also to the courier, etc.
As Aleksey Ivanov noted, these problems will be overcome, but currently, someone who wants to sell goods online in Uzbekistan might not always need to rely on marketplaces. Instead, they can leverage quality self-run internet sales, which always help the seller’s reputation.
One of the key events of Tashkent’s PLUS-Forum was the round table “Retail Banking Business.”
The participants discussed with each other and the Forum audience topics such as:
- Improving the population’s financial literacy.
- Positioning and effective marketing issues.
- The need to improve the customer experience.
- Implementing efficient centralized information services.
- Avoiding dumping in the deposit and credit product segments.
- Enhancing the professional competence of bank managers.
- Effective service for SMEs.
The round table was moderated by Ulugbek Tavakkalov, Deputy Chairman of the Board at Tenge Bank.
During the event, Aleksey Ivanov, founder and head of the “Client Experience Laboratory” (Russia/Uzbekistan), shared the results of a comparative study on auto loan customer experience at 10 Uzbek banks.
Notably, 71.5% of surveyed car owners did not use a loan to buy a car.
This high proportion is no coincidence — the study revealed various problems with ineffective customer interaction, including paper tickets for e-queues whose QR code led to… external resources.
According to Ivan Praudzin, Marketing Director at APEX BANK, the bank’s business isn’t always directly related to the products that its marketing promotes. Thus, there’s no systematic approach, and that leads to predictable outcomes.
In the opinion of Azizbek Yusufov, Managing Partner at the Mirror Management marketing communications agency, today — amid a shortage of qualified managers — it’s important for the bank to structure its service system so that it does not depend on specific specialists.
From the perspective of Elena Novoselova, Director at FINIX, Yakov & Partners, customer-centricity is primarily about the bank’s approach to working with retail clients. The initial task is to expand the client base. Then, when that potential is exhausted, the bank treats its customers’ needs more individually, making its product line more complex. A bright example is combining payroll and credit programs.
At the same time, experience from Russian banks shows that effective communication with customers and successful marketing are impossible without extensive, highly qualified in-house teams specializing in these areas.
More details on the round table’s results can be found in an upcoming issue of the PLUS Journal.
Simultaneously, a round table titled “Strategy for the Development of the Venture Capital Market in Uzbekistan” took place, addressing, among other things:
- Who are the participants in the venture ecosystem, and what is their role?
- Universities as a platform for nurturing startup projects
- Corporations — the main customers of innovative projects and modernization processes
- International financial institutions — access to external financing markets
The moderator was Dilshod Zufarov, Chairman of UZVCA, co-founder of the UzAngels business angel club.
Participants in the discussion included:
- Oksana Raim, Managing Partner of ICLUB in Asia
- Khurshida Igamberdieva, Chief Legal Officer at INNO Technopark
- Alijon Ravshanov, Partner at the Venture Company Sturgeon Capital Ltd. (UK)
- Makhsud Yusupov, Investment Director at UzVC
- Bekzod Sobirov, Scout for Activat.vc, Senior Analyst at Uztelecom
Exhibition Part
A representative exhibition was also held as part of the Forum, where more than 100 exhibitor companies from 31 countries worldwide not only showcased the latest products, technologies, and services but also provided comprehensive information on successful cases and plans for the near future.
BS/2, part of the Penki Kontinentai Group, served as the Forum’s Main Sponsor. The group presented innovative software solutions for self-service devices and Android-based payment terminals, as well as MAGNER counting and sorting equipment, the Q-Net electronic queue system, Sargent & Greenleaf safe locks, and the latest DN Series ATMs from Diebold Nixdorf.
BS/2 is headquartered in Lithuania with subsidiaries in seven countries worldwide. The company introduced its new software solutions and shared successful cases of their deployment.
Among the featured products was the new generation ATMeye.iQ, a system for handling customer requests and ensuring self-service device security. At the start of 2023, BS/2 released a fresh version of ATMeye.iQ, retaining the best qualities of the previous version.
At the PLUS-Forum, BS/2 employees demonstrated for the first time DS Center.iQ, a decision support system. This new product helps top managers and key specialists at client companies make management decisions based on analytics.
Additionally, as the exclusive partner of MAGNER International Corporation in Uzbekistan, BS/2 showcased a wide range of currency sorting and counting equipment.
The Q-Net Pro 6 electronic queue system is one of the newly introduced products in the company’s lineup. At the BS/2 booth, equipment was presented that fully automates the visitor service process, from queue entry to completing the transaction.
BS/2 achieved significant results at the Tashkent PLUS-Forum by signing a Memorandum of Cooperation with Kapitalbank. The document was signed by the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Kapitalbank, Sardor Ismailov, and Chairman of the Board of Penki Kontinentai Group (BS/2), Idrakas Dadašovas. Under this agreement, customers of Uzbekistan’s largest private bank will have convenient access to financial services.
NBA Technologies International showcased its new NBA Teller solution, as well as the new generation GRG and NCR ATMs with recycling functionality and the RDS Commander security and video surveillance system at the PLUS-Forum exhibition.
NBA Teller is the result of proven, reliable multivendor solutions for self-service devices. Thanks to the latest technologies used in NBA Teller, maximum security and convenience in working with banking self-service devices are achieved.
Market analysis shows that both payers and payees are ready to transition to direct “digital” interaction. This factor compels market participants to manage the financial component of settlement procedures more effectively. Hence, self-service device networks have become one of the key drivers for business growth, both for credit and financial institutions and for new players in the retail sector.
NBA Teller allows banks and non-banking organizations to expand not just the range of services they offer but how those services are delivered.
RDS Commander, a security and video surveillance system, was also presented at the forum. It is independent of the processing type and is a multivendor solution. Using RDS Commander video surveillance offers many advantages and opportunities.
Meanwhile, GRG ATMs combine all the latest ATM technology: reliability, functionality, ergonomics, and performing various transactions in significant volumes in self-service areas.
NCR’s SelfServ model was also featured. Its design was driven by the latest digital self-service technologies. The SelfServ series of recycling ATMs elevate the customer experience to a new level.
For both days of the Forum, the stand of Sinimex, the Official Sponsor of the 3rd International PLUS-Forum “Fintech, Banks, and Retail,” attracted attention. Its experts described integration solutions, shared many years of financial industry expertise, detailed their competencies, and answered participants’ questions on custom development.
Since 1997, Sinimex has been creating and implementing business-oriented and infrastructure solutions under contract. Its portfolio includes integration projects completed for the banking sector, major industrial companies, and non-financial organizations.
Through its work at the stand, Sinimex’s specialists observed that big interest in the financial sector remains around machine learning, artificial intelligence, open interfaces, which improve not only the quality of customer service, partner services, and loyalty programs, but also the efficiency of internal banking processes, from scoring systems to fraud prevention.
Bass Technology, a Silver Sponsor of the event, is the official representative of GLORY Global Solution (Japan) in Central Asia. In Uzbekistan, the subsidiary LLC “BassTech Asia Solution” is present. The rapidly growing Uzbek market is the most promising in Central Asia. Fast-paced development is driving new tasks and new standards in the banking sector and cash handling. Hence, the company presented the latest series of GLORY GLA-100/200 electronic teller recyclers.
Using the new GLORY DE-70 deposit machines significantly eases the load on bank branches that accept large amounts of cash from both corporate and individual clients, attracts additional customers, and moves them to self-service zones. The machine’s increased capacity reduces costs for cash collection and maintenance.
The newly introduced GLORY UW-F series banknote sorting systems can fundamentally transform the cash handling process in banks’ counting rooms.
As company representatives noted, “We are very glad for this opportunity to introduce all interested representatives of Uzbekistan’s banking sector and other countries to all our solutions in one place, the Tashkent PLUS-Forum.”
Fido-Biznes has participated in Tashkent PLUS-Forums for three years in a row. This year, the company, a Gold sponsor of the event, decided to focus on customer-centric solutions, presenting two of its own developments that have no counterparts among local IT solutions for businesses — “Unified MFO” and the corporate internet banking for legal entities based on a microservices architecture, FB DBP Business.
These products are extremely relevant today because Unified MFO optimizes a bank’s organizational structure, thereby offering certain advantages and benefits, as noted in a speech by Fido-Biznes’s Director of the Project Management Department, Ulugbek Safabaev.
As for FB DBP Business, it’s essentially a service enabling a bank’s corporate clients to receive remote banking services online without visiting the bank’s office. Microservices architecture and Open API technology help a bank develop the system on its own, free from vendor lock-in. Microservices architecture allows flexibility and rapid development of new features because it’s not limited to a particular technology stack. This means developers can use the programming language they’re best at for each task. The advantages of Open API don’t end there — it helps quickly bring new products to market, promptly execute updates, and do fast integration with the bank’s external systems. This issue is especially relevant, given that a bank ecosystem is not limited to core banking but also includes a wide array of external systems requiring integration.
As the company noted, “The main trend we see among banks is customer-centricity. The better and higher-quality a bank’s service, the greater the likelihood of attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. So why not give customers what they need most — convenience, comfort, and security? Our market knowledge suggests that focusing on customer-oriented products is the correct path, and the near future will please us and the entire industry with new, progressive banking products.
As Ulugbek Safabaev said, “Participating in the PLUS-Forum left me and our team with an exclusively positive impression. We had an excellent opportunity to present our target audience with innovative products, thoroughly discuss our creations, and share our expertise. We look forward to next year, ready to participate again and present new products and developments. We extend our special thanks to all participants and organizers who ensure our city has platforms where experts and industry representatives can exchange experiences and network. See you at the next PLUS-Forum!”
