Best bank: Halyk Bank
After being knocked back by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstan’s economy rebounded last year, notching up over 5% growth on strong levels of consumer and public spending.
Capitalizing on this and benefiting from bumper interest income from rates of over 15%, the country’s banking sector delivered record profits of KT2.2 trillion ($4.78 billion) in 2023, up from KT1.5 trillion the year before.
Among several banks that recorded a good performance, Halyk Bank stands out not only for delivering market-leading growth and the highest net profit but also for the development of its banking businesses, making it Kazakhstan’s best bank.
To the end of December 2023, Halyk grew net profits by 22% year on year to KT693 billion on interest income of KT1.7 trillion, up 34% on 2022. In the main, profit growth was driven by total asset growth of 7.6%, with loans up 18% on a net basis across retail, corporate and small and medium-sized enterprise lending.
This performance underpinned the bank’s return on average equity last year of 32.5%, trumping the broader Kazakh banking sector’s ROE of 28.1%.
Contributing to the financial performance was the growth and development in specific areas of its banking business, notably in digital banking and sustainability.
The bank recorded impressive growth in activity across its main digital platforms – average monthly active users of the Halyk Super-App, for example, rose 46% to 7.9 million last year, with the volume of payments and transfers rising 48% to KT11.7 trillion. It also completed the acquisition of a 50% share in Open Networks, a digital infrastructure company that will enable Halyk to enhance its own digital infrastructure to strengthen its online and marketplace services.
Sustainable finance is another key area where Halyk stood out last year. The bank financed sustainability-focused projects worth around KT191 billion in areas including electric vehicle distribution, waste oil regeneration and water pipeline reconstruction and expansion.
Best international bank: Citi
Citi enhanced its digital capabilities during the awards period and introduced important initiatives to support communities and its staff.
The lender posted net revenues of KT152.3 billion ($318 million), up 11.1% year on year in 2023. Profit before tax grew by 7.9% to KT132 billion.
Digital penetration among its client base is now above 30%. In trade finance, the integration of local digital signatures facilitated the digitization of 53% of trade guarantees and loan disbursement processes.
Community engagement was another priority area. More than 100 employees participated in Citi’s Global Community Day, contributing to various local initiatives such as volunteering at centres for children with special needs, planting trees and fundraising for charitable causes. The bank also established the Kun Bala Bakery of Opportunities centre, which trained 60 teenagers with Down Syndrome to become bakery professionals.
The lender also introduced a hybrid working model for its Kazakhstan staff and ran a comprehensive internal career mobility programme, which saw eight employees join its Kazakhstan business from overseas and four domestic employees relocate to other Citi entities.
