Halyk BaaS: banking services for MFIs
At the meetup, it was recalled that in November 2024 at Rocket Conf, Halyk presented a BaaS platform — a library of ready-made banking modules for neobanks and fintech companies. Its first major partner was Vlife, which integrated onboarding services, Halyk ID, utility payments, and card issuance.
For MFIs, the bank developed a separate SDK within the platform — Halyk Widget, which allows embedding banking services directly into an MFI's mobile application.
"Halyk is not just a bank, but a technology corporation that transforms and develops the IT market at the national level. We see high demand among MFIs for payment and identification services, as third-party provider tariffs are overpriced and access to government databases is limited. The bank already has all the necessary integrations, and we can offer the market secure and proven solutions," noted Director of the IT Department at Halyk Aldiyar Arystanbayev.
The BaaS platform offers four key services for MFIs:
- Instant crediting of loan funds from a Halyk card to an MFI account;
- Loan repayment from a customer's card;
- GovTech access to government services within the MFI application;
- KYC — authorization and primary customer identification using Halyk ID.
"The solution reduces Time to Market, lowers the technical load, simplifies document flow, and decreases MFI communication costs. For users, it is an opportunity to get a loan, pay off debt, or use government services in a couple of clicks," added Head of the Neobank Department at Halyk Roman Tretyakov.
The platform is expected to expand in the near future: transfers by phone number to other second-tier banks of the Republic of Kazakhstan will be added, as well as biometrics, digital signature (EDS), and full KYC services.
Bank representatives paid special attention to the Halyk ID service — digital identification working similarly to the Russian Sber ID.
"Halyk ID allows a user to confirm their identity in one click and gain access to MFI services without re-entering data. The service is already being used in a number of partner applications and shows high engagement rates," said Product Owner of Halyk ID Medet Aitkozha.
For MFIs, this means:
- Reduced costs for implementing their own KYC processes;
- Increased conversion due to fast customer onboarding;
- Legally significant authorization that meets regulatory requirements;
- The first step towards integration with the ecosystem of the country's largest bank.
White label instead of in-house, accelerating time to market by 2.5 times, and processing 25,000 applications per day
Another digital transformation scenario for microcredit organizations based on ready-made fintech modules was described by Product Owner of Ready Bank at Rocket Tech, Alexander Sobolev.
In his opinion, launching new products and upgrading MFI infrastructure is stimulated not only by the technical requirements of the regulator but also by audience demands. The client expects a loan to be issued "here and now" right on their smartphone. To do this, a financial organization needs a ready-made IT architecture consisting of 4 elements:
- Front Office: Mobile/Web banking for SMEs and individuals — fast UX-oriented applications for iOS and Android plus an additional Web interface for legal entities;
- Back office: automated banking system (ABS) and processing, including transaction execution, balance accounting, etc.
- Middle Office: an operational CRM platform for sales management and customer support on a single-window basis, as well as a credit pipeline with full automation of the credit cycle and processing of up to 25,000 applications per day;
- External integrations: SaaS/BaaS services, collection management systems, low/no-code platforms, AI solutions for scoring and anti-fraud, etc.
Developing such a system from scratch will take at least 1.5-2 years and require about $2 million to maintain an in-house development team. Alexander Sobolev explained how to reduce the cost and time of launching a flexible IT architecture to six months using the example of Ready Bank's ready-made solutions. Since 2024, financial organizations in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan have been using and implementing it entirely or modularly.
Ready Bank includes all the above modules and is integrated with Colvir — the most popular ABS in Kazakhstan. At the same time, integrating the platform with other banking systems takes from 7 months to a year, which is still faster than developing a similar solution from scratch.
Ready Bank is also distinguished by its white-label solutions model. It allows customers to independently develop and maintain the product internally after its implementation without additional subscription costs.
"White label is a ready-made 'box' that covers 70% of the client's key needs. The remaining 30% involves adapting it to the product. For example, for some it is auto lending or leasing, for others it is a cash loan, etc. After integration, our partners receive proven modules from an experienced development team in compliance with all regulatory standards for storing and processing personal data, etc. As a result, they reduce their time to market by 2.5 times, which gives them a competitive advantage. At the same time, each customer brings some new insight, and their feedback helps us implement new functionality," says Alexander Sobolev.
Adapted ABS, IT departments from scratch, and competitive UX
The second part of the meetup also featured presentations of new products. International ABS provider Colvir adapted its system for MFIs. According to the company's Account Manager Timur Tlegenov, a new solution is already being implemented in Kazakhstan by an MFI focusing on auto loans.
The platform's functionality includes a set of modules necessary for issuing loans, cash settlement operations, data exchange, etc.
CTO of Solva Group Sergey Klimov shared his experience implementing agile practices to accelerate business. Unlike bank lending, MFI products require constant adaptation and repackaging due to high competition. At the same time, clear communication is not always established between business and IT departments, and top management is often not involved in development.
In such a situation, the solution can be the direct participation of management in forming the task backlog to understand where and what the company's resources are spent on. The expert also emphasized the importance of dividing IT departments by streams, implementing agile development methodologies and cross-functional teams, regular maintenance of technical debt, automation, and more.
Design Lead at Rocket Tech Mariya Shkunarskaya concluded the series of reports. She explained why high-quality UX has become a competitive advantage and analyzed 5 common mistakes that hinder the growth of fintech projects.
In conditions where there are only more players and fewer differences between services, the success of products is largely determined by the experience of using them. It consists of interacting with service interfaces, as well as their business logic. Accordingly, every incomprehensible term, extra step, or delay in the process leads to a loss of applications, appeals to technical support, and a loss of clients.
The meetup ended with a panel discussion featuring all speakers, where experts discussed the main challenges of the MFI market. Despite the polarity of views on certain issues, participants agreed that the speed of digital transformation and the convenience of digital solutions have become the main criteria for MFI success in the competitive struggle.
