Kaspi.kz declines to participate in privatization of Uzbekistan's Humo payment system

ASTANA. Nov 18 (Interfax) - JSC Kaspi.kz will not participate in the privatization of Uzbekistan's National Interbank Processing Center (Humo), the Kazakh bank said in a press release.

"In August 2024 we [Kaspi.kz] submitted a non-binding letter of interest to Uzbekistan's State Assets Management Agency [SAMA], indicating our interest in participating in the privatization of the National Interbank Processing Center [Humo]. At this time, we are not proceeding further in the process," the press release said.

However, Kaspi.kz will continue to look for opportunities to play a role in Uzbekistan's digital transformation, it said.

In late August, Kaspi.kz submitted a formal letter of interest to SAMA to participate in the privatization of the Humo payments system in Uzbekistan.

Humo is one of two payment systems in Uzbekistan and enables all aspects of the payments process for banks and other payment providers.

In October 2024, Fitch Ratings said that Kaspi.kz materially expanding its presence and operations in lower-rated markets outside of Kazakhstan (BBB/Stable) could be credit-negative. As an example, Fitch mentioned Kaspi.kz's plans to acquire Humo.

Kaspi.kz operates a two-sided Super App business model - the Kaspi.kz Super App for consumers and the Kaspi Pay Super App for merchants and entrepreneurs. Kaspi.kz's offerings include payments, marketplace and fintech solutions for both consumers and merchants. Kaspi.kz Group is comprised of Kaspi Shop LLP, Kaspi Bank, Kaspi Pay LLP and Kaspi Travel LLP. As at October 1, 2024 the company's main shareholders were Baring Funds (23.78%), Mikheil Lomtadze (21.53%) and Vyacheslav Kim (20.39%). The holding's receipts and shares are traded on the U.S. Nasdaq Stock Exchange, the Kazakh Stock Exchange and the Astana International Exchange.