IPS (Instant Payments System)Public instant rail using phone numbers and QR codes, created in part to counter Kaspi’s dominance in retail payments.National Payment Corporation (formerly Kazakhstan Interbank Settlement Centre) · since 2022
Global registry · Asia-Pacific · Central Asia
Kazakhstan Payment systems
7 systems listed.
This country doesn’t have a written market analysis yet: e-commerce shares, regulator, and key players are still to be documented. The systems below, however, are verified.
IBAN · Kazakhstan
20 characters49 bank codes82 BIC codes
- Total length
- 20 characters
- Bank code position
- 5–7
- BBAN structure
3!n13!c
Structurally valid example
KZcountry code86check digits125bankKZT5004100100account
KZ86 125K ZT50 0410 0100
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Payments in Oceania and CanadaPayments in Central AsiaPayments in South Asia outside IndiaPayments in Southeast AsiaPayments in Japan and KoreaPayments in Malaysia and SingaporeAccepting payments in Australia and New ZealandAccepting payments in Indonesia and ThailandAccepting payments in Japan and South KoreaAccepting payments in Southeast AsiaPayments in Asia: super-apps, public rails, and cross-border QROpening a new market: the payments playbook
Instant payments
IMPS (Interbank Mobile Payment System)Kazakhstan's interbank rail for instant transfers by phone number and interoperable QR payments, in real time and 24/7. It extends to the entire market what the IPS (2022) and the unified interbank QR code (2025) had rolled out to only some banks. Do not confuse it with NPCI's IMPS in India, an unrelated system with the same name.National Payment Corporation (subsidiary of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, formerly the Kazakhstan Interbank Settlement Centre; the system is part of the national digital financial infrastructure announced in July 2026) · since 2026Nationwide launch on July 19, 2026, with every bank offering retail mobile banking connected from day one (National Bank of Kazakhstan, July 2026).
Clearing and settlement
Interbank Clearing System (Межбанковская система клиринга)The retail counterpart to Kazakhstan's ISMT. Low-value payments accumulate during the day, are netted, and the balance settles in central bank money. It handles most of the country's interbank transactions by count but a tiny share by value, which is exactly where the line between the two systems falls. Its volumes are shrinking as retail payments move to the IPS instant rail and card rails.National Payment Corporation of Kazakhstan (subsidiary of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, successor to the Kazakhstan Interbank Settlement Centre)36.7 million payment documents worth KZT 6.8 trillion in H1 2026, or 311,200 transactions and KZT 57.4 billion per business day; volume down 2.1% and value down 1.9% year over year (National Bank of Kazakhstan, 2026).
Wallets
Kaspi.kzA global example of a private super app that has overtaken the public payment infrastructure: payments, merchant QR, marketplace, and credit in a single app, to the point that the central bank had to mandate an interoperable interbank QR code. The academic estimate of an 80% market share cited in the original entry is replaced here by the volumes published by the listed issuer.Kaspi.kz JSC (Nasdaq-listed Kazakh joint stock company that describes itself as the country’s leading payments, marketplace, and financial services ecosystem.)Payment volume of KZT 11,353 billion ($23.7 billion) in Q1 2026, up 14% year over year, with consolidated net income of KZT 252 billion (Kaspi.kz investor relations, Q1 2026)
Interoperable QR
Unified interbank QR systemPilotA direct regulatory response to proprietary QR codes: a customer of any bank must be able to pay any merchant QR code, a major competitive issue given Kaspi’s position.National Payment Corporation · since 2025Launched with several banks (including CentreCredit, Freedom Bank, and Home Credit Bank), with three more banks expected by the end of 2025; large-scale rollout planned for 2026 (Astana Times, Nov. 2025).
Central bank digital currency
Digital tengePilotOne of the most advanced CBDCs outside China, with an explicit use case of tracking public spending (public procurement) rather than general retail payments.National Bank of Kazakhstan / National Payment Corporation · since 2023Described by the NBK governor as “a fully functional tool ensuring transparency and control of public sector transactions” (Astana Times, Nov. 2025); an extension to cross-border payments has been announced.
Other
ISMT (Interbank System of Money Transfer)Kazakhstan’s large-value settlement backbone: it carries almost all of the value exchanged, while the clearing system carries most of the transaction count. Two corrections to the original entry: it is a gross settlement system, not a retail instant transfer rail, and the figure of 231,312,323 transactions, given without a reference period, matches no statistic published by the central bank.National Bank of Kazakhstan (the central bank publishes ISMT statistics together with those of the interbank clearing system, which handles retail payments.)17.2 million transactions worth KZT 711.7 trillion from January to June 2026, compared with 36.7 million payment documents worth KZT 6.8 trillion in the clearing system (National Bank of Kazakhstan, H1 2026)