While some banks around the world still treat digitalization as an ambitious goal for the “future,” it’s already a reality in Kazakhstan. Timur Turlov, founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., a Nasdaq-listed company, has built an ecosystem where housing, car, business, and currency services are fully online—no office visits, no paperwork, just a few clicks. Freedom’s full-stack, vertical integration in a single app—with such efficiency and scale—is indeed unique or extremely rare globally.
Freedom Bank, one of the most technologically advanced banks in the region, has issued 33,500 digital mortgages worth $1.2 billion to Kazakhstanis in just four years. The entire process—from application to contract signing—happens online. According to Timur Turlov, thanks to integration with 34 government databases, automation, and artificial intelligence, the bank has cut the average approval time for a mortgage from two weeks to just 24 hours.
“Every hour we receive more than 40 applications. That kind of scale would be impossible without digital tools that make the process fast, convenient, and cost-effective,” Timur Turlov said during a recent government meeting.
One of the most striking outcomes of this digital transformation is the cost efficiency: processing a single application now costs just $220, compared to $10,500 in the U.S. In effect, Freedom Bank has redefined the traditional banking model—proving that digital can mean cheaper, faster, and more efficient.
And it’s not just mortgages. Car loans are now processed in just 12 hours instead of seven days. So far, 21,000 Kazakhstanis have purchased vehicles through the program, with total funding exceeding 366 billion tenge (around $712 million). The system also integrates digital car insurance and fraud protection.
Small businesses haven’t been left behind. For LLPs and individual entrepreneurs, loans are now issued online—often in under 24 hours, and sometimes in as little as 12 minutes. The maximum loan amount is 100 million tenge. Out of more than 1 million applications, 30,000 have been approved for a total of $443 million.
“Globally, small business lending is seen as risky and expensive, and many banks avoid it. But here, it’s the opposite. We believe Kazakhstan has actually moved ahead of many developed markets in this area,” Timur Turlov emphasized.
Freedom Bank was the first in the country to transform its banking app into a true SuperApp—a unified digital platform that brings together services offered by Freedom Holding’s ecosystem. Through the app, users can manage their finances, open deposits, buy airline and event tickets, purchase insurance, subscribe to services, pay for mobile plans, and shop online—all within the Freedom group of companies. SuperApps do exist in Asia—for example, WeChat and Grab—but this level of ecosystem integration by a financial institution is rare, especially in Central Asia and even Europe.
The ecosystem also includes Freedom Currency, a cashback and loyalty program linked to a derivative instrument based on Freedom’s stock. It is tradable within the ecosystem, blurring the lines between loyalty points, financial assets, and digital currency. This innovative approach aligns customer loyalty with company growth and is not commonly seen elsewhere. Customers receive cashback on all purchases, with higher rates for spending within the ecosystem. Rewards are issued in a special currency tied to the holding’s shares, which have doubled in value —from around $70 at launch to $140 now. This currency can be used for payments, transfers, conversions, or savings. Inspired by global companies that reward employees with shares, Freedom created this model to thank its clients—offering them a stake in the company’s growth.
“We’re building more than a bank—we’re creating an ecosystem where people can live, spend, earn, and grow,” says Timur Turlov.
While global banks are still investing billions into pilot digital projects, Freedom Holding is already operating in the future. And maybe it won’t be Silicon Valley, but Kazakhstan, that sparks the next generation of digital finance.
Timur Turlov also sees strong potential in bringing Kazakhstan’s homegrown technology and solutions to the European market, confident in the global scalability of both Freedom’s product offerings and customer base. While some elements of Freedom’s digital services exist in Western neobanks, combining them at this scale in developing markets, along with deep government integration, makes Freedom’s approach both unusual and pioneering.
