Tashkent: Back in 2018, Uzbekistan was just dipping its toes in the fintech waters with a mere 24 companies. Fast forward to today, that number has skyrocketed to 103, and this year domestic fintech enterprises attracted over $260 million in foreign investment-four times more than in the previous year.
According to Trend News Agency, these figures were brought to light during a discussion between President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and entrepreneurs. The meeting focused on proposals for growing the country’s fintech sector. Support was announced for a thousand startups, alongside the introduction of an ‘open banking’ system and the development of a five-year fintech strategy. Officials presented detailed plans and proposals in this area.
To formulate the national fintech development strategy, a comprehensive analysis is underway of the legal framework, current state of the sector, infrastructure, and human resources. With the involvement of experts from Singapore, international best practices are being studied. Based on this, national principles will be established, the institutional architecture defined, and interagency coordination mechanisms developed. The ultimate goal is to create a sustainable, inclusive, and competitive financial services ecosystem.
The president also emphasized that the modern financial market cannot develop without artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies. Experts estimate that their implementation could increase banks’ revenues by 20 percent, expand the volume of financial services by 30 percent, and simultaneously reduce risks by 15 percent.
President Mirziyoyev underscored the importance of enhancing banks’ technological capabilities, increasing the proportion of digital services, supporting fintech companies and startups, and fostering IT infrastructure development. Key measures include establishing a Fintech Office within the Central Bank to define and manage success criteria and creating an innovation hub to accelerate startups, implement new ideas, and attract investment. These initiatives are expected to position Uzbekistan as a regional fintech hub.