Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s oldest financial institution, has become an important part of the country’s ongoing digital banking revolution. The transformation of Kazakhstan’s banking sector is striking, as the country surpasses long-established European and global banks in the scope and sophistication of digital services offered through ‘super apps’, multifunctional platforms launched and continuously expanded by the country’s leading banks. 

Kazakhstan’s largest financial group, Halyk, has developed a digital ecosystem that integrates core banking services such as payments, transfers and card management with lifestyle features including weather updates, cinema listings, e-commerce and travel services.

“We are a universal bank, but we now position ourselves as more than a bank. Our lifestyle ecosystem provides not only financial services but government services, retail, entertainment and so on. We already have a lot of customers who are using financial services only online, and almost never visit our branches,” said deputy CEO Nariman Mukushev in an interview with bne IntelliNews at the bank’s headquarters in Almaty.

Halyk’s flagship super app incorporates e-government functions and dedicated services such as Halyk Market, Halyk Invest, Halyk Travel and kino.kz, an entertainment portal. It supports a broad range of transactions, from peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers to tax and legal payments.

Kazakhstan’s first super app was pioneered by Kaspi, with Halyk following. However, Halyk has distinguished itself by offering a broader range of services, including government functions.

Old bank, new offering

Traditionally known for its extensive branch network, Halyk has thoroughly embraced digital banking. In 2023, the bank marked the 100th anniversary of its founding in west Kazakhstan in the early years of the Soviet Union. Today, its operations span retail, SME and corporate banking, as well as insurance, leasing, brokerage and asset management.

Reflecting on the bank’s history, Mukushev said: “We are the oldest bank in Kazakhstan. We started as a Soviet bank that opened in October 1923 in Aktobe. At the beginning of the 2000s, Halyk was the third or fourth largest bank in terms of deposits, loans and market share. But Halyk grew very quickly over the last 10-15 years. Meanwhile, the pandemic boosted digitalisation in Kazakhstan, including in the banking sector.”

Halyk’s digital transformation has been driven by the launch of its super app. Customers can access banking products, make payments, transfer funds, withdraw cash without a physical card and complete purchases using QR codes or digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Digital lending has been a key driver of this transformation. Halyk Market, the bank’s e-commerce platform, has also seen rapid growth.

A digital ecosystem

Halyk is now expanding its digital services beyond banking, integrating new functionalities into its super app, including government services. 

“We started from the bank then added other verticals like travel, entertainment, marketplace, government and education. We have more government services on our app than any competitor. We have 66; our nearest competitor has about 37,” Andrey Zavarzin, chief information and innovation officer, told bne IntelliNews.

He highlighted Halyk ID, a digital identity system similar to Google ID or Apple ID, which simplifies access to services within the ecosystem. “Regarding the horizontals, the first is the super app. Another is data and ID. If you have the mobile app, you also have a Halyk ID, which works like a Google ID or Apple ID, allowing you to access any other service. It’s very easy when you have a super app with Halyk ID to add more and more services,” Zavarzin added.

The broad range of services has driven significant user growth. “At the beginning of the year, we surpassed 8mn monthly active users. Just two to three years ago, that number was only half. Today, we are growing by 100,000-150,000 users per month – that’s the equivalent of a mid-sized city joining our digital ecosystem every month,” Mukushev said.

Halyk is also a key platform for government services. “We see high usage of all the services. In the last year, people used government services through Halyk 17mn times. For the country as a whole, the number was 200mn for the year, so we accounted for around 9% of the total,” Mukushev said.

Innovation and security 

Halyk’s digital services are complemented by its extensive branch network. “We have more than 500 branches and use this network for our digital and semi-digital products such as marketplace. After more than 100 years of history, our big strength is the combination of physical and digital. It gives us a competitive advantage because we can build digital products based on this physical network,” said Zavarzin.

While convenience is a priority, security remains paramount. “We have separate divisions for anti-fraud and cyber-security. We invest a lot in security, because online banking, apps and digital infrastructure are our main value. We see that one of the reasons customers choose Halyk is security; they understand we are secure,” Mukushev said.

The bank is also developing personal finance management (PFM) tools to enhance customers’ financial literacy. “We are in the process of launching personal finance management (PFM) to help enhance the financial literacy of our customers, allowing them to analyse expenses and incomes, set financial goals, and get advice on how to reach those financial goals. We are also working closely with the government on providing tax advice, and looking at other daily services such as groceries and utility payments,” Mukushev explained.

Corporate banking is another area of focus. “We are the first in the corporate sector and provide comprehensive coverage across all areas. Their needs are more or less the same: they need to sell their products, pay taxes, have a bank, have IT, have an HR system, for example, so we are trying to provide this through our online bank … We don’t yet provide everything they need to run their business, but this is our aim,” Zavarzin said. 

Overall, he adds, when it comes to launching future services: “We have many technologies in place that we haven’t yet utilised 100%. There are still a lot of applications we can introduce to make the lives of our customers better.”