TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, September 10. Back in 2018, Uzbekistan was just dipping its toes in the fintech waters with a mere 24 companies, but 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, Trend reports.
These figures were brought to light during a heart-to-heart between President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and entrepreneurs, where he took a good hard look at proposals for the growth of the country’s fintech sector.
During the discussion, support was announced for a thousand startups, the introduction of an “open banking” system, and the development of a five-year fintech strategy. Officials also presented detailed plans and proposals in this area.
To formulate the national fintech development strategy, a comprehensive analysis is underway of the legal framework, the 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 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 emphasized the importance of beefing up banks’ technological prowess, boosting the slice of digital services, lending a helping hand to fintech companies and startups, and laying the groundwork for IT infrastructure development.
Key measures have been outlined, including the establishment of a Fintech Office within the Central Bank to define and manage success criteria and the creation of an innovation hub to accelerate startups, implement new ideas, and attract investment. These initiatives are expected to position Uzbekistan as a regional fintech hub.
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