Freedom Bank earns top ranking for term deposit rates

Photo: Danil Tumashevich

Timur Turlov’s Freedom Bank has ranked among the top three banks offering the highest interest rates on certificates of deposit in Kazakhstan, alongside Home Credit and Eurasian Bank, according to Ranking.kz.

Freedom Bank, part of the Freedom Finance ecosystem supervised by well-known financier Timur Turlov, became the first bank in Kazakhstan to offer an annual percentage yield (APY) of 20% on its term deposits. These terms apply to the «Capital» certificate of deposit, which requires a minimum deposit of 500,000 tenge ($1,000). The product was launched in October 2025. Since then, several other commercial banks have followed suit, offering the same rate on their certificates of deposit (CDs).

Home Credit offers an APY of 15% to 20% on its «Home Savings» CD, with a minimum deposit of 100,000 tenge ($200). Eurasian Bank offers an APY of 19.1% on its «Turbo Deposit Savings» product, with a minimum deposit of 10 million tenge ($20,270). Overall, Ranking.kz reviewed eight banks, with Bereke, Alatau City and Halyk offering the least favorable APY terms, according to the survey.

According to the National Bank, 2025 was a year of aggressive growth for Freedom Bank, driven by the development model consistently implemented by Timur Turlov. The bank demonstrated a significant influx of liquidity: retail deposits grew by 50.6% (+296 billion tenge, or $600 million), reaching 882 billion tenge ($1.7 billion), while business deposits increased by 26% (+122 billion tenge, or $247 million), reaching 589.6 billion tenge ($1.1 billion).

Against this backdrop, Timur Turlov’s Freedom Bank entered the top seven banks in Kazakhstan by retail deposits, moving up three positions from 10th place. At the same time, the bank’s loan portfolio increased by more than one-third, exceeding 1 trillion tenge ($2 billion). Moreover, despite active lending, the overall quality of the bank’s portfolio improved. The share of non-performing loans (NPL 90+) declined from 1.5% to 1.3%, one of the lowest levels in the market.

Timur Turlov did not rule out acquiring another bank. In an interview with Bloomberg, he noted that the group is considering expanding its business by acquiring a local marketplace and a bank in Turkey. To implement these plans, the company is exploring issuing bonds totaling up to $500 million.

According to the businessman, «in theory,» several banks in Kazakhstan are ready for sale. Freedom Finance is interested in acquiring an asset below book value and integrating it into Freedom Bank, which would allow the group to access the target’s corporate client base. The potential acquisition target should be comparable in scale to Freedom Bank, with assets of approximately 2.5 trillion tenge ($5 billion) and capital of around $500 million.

Freedom Bank is also actively scaling internationally as part of the holding’s strategy. In October 2024, it was announced that the bank had entered the Tajik market after receiving a license from the local regulator. In June 2025, Freedom Bank began operations in Kyrgyzstan, and in November, it received approval from Kazakhstan’s Agency for Development and Regulation of the Financial Market to open a subsidiary bank in Georgia.

Other Freedom Finance subsidiaries are also expanding their presence in international markets. Freedom Financial Services Inc. is establishing a brokerage company in Turkey, Freedom Investment Securities Inc., after receiving approval from local regulators. In December 2025, the holding’s brokerage received a license in Abu Dhabi.

At the end of 2025, the company announced that it would acquire the telecommunications firm Transtelecom and is currently in the process of obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals. This deal followed Freedom Telecom’s acquisition of ASTEL, a leading provider of satellite communications and systems integration in Kazakhstan. In January 2026, Timur Turlov announced a paradigm shift during a strategic session with the group’s top management. According to the CEO of Freedom Holding, the company faced a strategic choice: remain a service-oriented portfolio company or transform into a digital infrastructure company. As a result, Freedom Finance opted for a model that keeps the group a trendsetter in both financial and digital markets.