Kazakhstan has made an unprecedented leap in fintech: in a few years, the country transitioned from cash dominance to almost ~88% penetration of QR payments and instant transfers. A banking app on a Kazakhstani's smartphone today is the hub for solving all everyday tasks: from paying for kindergarten and taxes to buying groceries and airline tickets.
However, the high frequency of service usage does not mean that all users are equally satisfied or use the tools identically.
As part of this research, we identified five key audience segments, each with its own unique logic of interacting with money, its own pain points, and boundaries of trust in technology.
What is this research about?
In this study, we conducted in-depth interviews with Kazakhstanis to explore their experience interacting with banking ecosystems.
In this article, we analyze payments and transfers:
- How do different user segments perceive banking ecosystems?
- How do they use payments and transfers?
- What are they missing, and what stops them from using new features?
Below is a detailed breakdown of the five archetypes that define the landscape of modern Kazakhstani fintech.
😐 Normies
For them, a banking app is basic infrastructure, like electricity or water. They are loyal to one anchor bank (most often Kaspi) and perceive its current service as the ideal. They do not need innovation for the sake of innovation; they value predictability.
Payments and transfers (Rating: 9/10)
For them, this is an automatic process. QR payments, utility bills, transfers to family—Kaspi covers 100% of their needs.
- Quote: "I'm used to Kaspi, I don't see the point in changing... it has a good structure, it's faster to find things" (Nurali).
- Behavior: Even if the app lacks Apple Pay or other more convenient payment methods, they will not change banks—the habit of paying via QR is stronger.
Blockers and barriers
- Cognitive overload: The interfaces of Freedom or Halyk seem overloaded to them, with too much information.
- Digital noise: They are irritated by intrusive updates or insurance ads right when they just need to transfer money to a friend. This makes them cling even tighter to the familiar experience of their old bank.
- Commission friction of payroll projects: The gap between their "payroll" bank and Kaspi forces them to constantly transfer funds manually, losing time and money on interbank commissions.
🤑 Pragmatists
Rational optimizers. They have a whole suite of apps on their phones (Freedom, Kaspi, Halyk, Apple Pay), and they constantly juggle them for profit. For them, a bank is a tool to earn money on their own spending.
Payments and transfers (Rating: 6/10)
For them, this is an automatic process. QR payments, utility bills, transfers to family—Kaspi covers 100% of their needs.
- Quote: "I switched to Freedom—they have Arbuz and cashbacks... but it's a pity you can't make all payments through them" (Igor).
- Behavior: They might use one bank for cashback and another for payments, constantly transferring money between them.
Blockers and barriers
- Closed marketplaces: The inability to link another bank's card to a marketplace (for example, Kaspi) is a huge barrier that forces them to take extra steps.
- Complex conditions: If cashback requires maintaining a balance or selecting categories every month, it is perceived as an extra burden rather than a bonus.
- Arbitrage burden: The need to constantly "juggle" apps out of fear of losing cashback by choosing the wrong card turns payments into a tedious process of manual management.
🥸 Old-schoolers
Users with low digital engagement. They value physical control and simplicity. For them, any ecosystem is a maze in which they are afraid of getting lost.
Payments and transfers (Rating: 5/10)
They often return to cash or a physical card because it is clearer and faster than figuring out an app.
- Quote: "In BCC, Apple Pay is more convenient—you press two buttons... for a Kaspi QR, you have to open the app, wait for it to load..." (Aibek).
- Behavior: If given a choice, they will pay with Apple Pay through another bank or with cash, just to avoid going through the QR quest.
Blockers and barriers
- Biometric fear: The offer to pay with a palm (Alaqan) or via Face ID causes them deep distrust and a feeling of losing control over personal data.
- Redundancy of actions: Any operation requiring more than 2-3 clicks is a reason to close the app.
- Technical frustration: Forced requirements to update the app even to make the simplest transfer cause irritation and a desire to return to a physical card or cash.
🧐 The Financially Literate
Planners who keep records in Google Sheets or Zenmoney. For them, an app is a data provider. They value the depth of analytics and data export.
Payments and transfers (Rating: 7/10)
They use different banks for different purposes (investments, deposits, children's cards) but suffer from fragmented information.
- Quote: "In Kaspi, I track transactions... but supermarkets are only what is paid by card online, excluding transfers" (Zhenya).
- Behavior: They manually classify transfers because banking algorithms often make mistakes in categories.
Blockers and barriers
- "Dirty" analytics: Transfers between their own accounts clutter the statement, appearing as income/expenses. This breaks their accounting system.
- Lack of integration: The inability to see balances and spending from other banks in one window forces them to do double work.
- Protocol gap: The lack of a unified standard for instant free transfers by phone number between all KZ banks prevents them from managing their capital as a single system.
😡 The Burned
Users with negative experiences (blocks, payment freezes). Their loyalty is zero. They use banks with cold calculation, constantly expecting a catch.
Payments and transfers (Rating: 4/10)
They keep minimal amounts "for coffee" on their cards. They make transfers carefully, trying not to attract attention.
- Quote: "Because of a processing center error at Freedom, I just left for Home Credit. Now I trust big banks less" (Samat).
- Behavior: They can instantly change banks if payroll processing becomes even slightly more convenient or safer elsewhere.
Blockers and barriers
- Distrust of the new: Any payment innovations (biometrics, new protocols) are perceived as "a place where everything can break." They stick to old, proven, albeit inconvenient methods.
- Lack of transparency: If a bank does not explain the status of a "pending" payment in real time, they permanently leave for a backup bank.
- Processing failure trauma: The memory of past account blocks or system errors forces them to completely avoid transfers in banks that once allowed a critical failure.
Final summary
The Kazakhstani payment market has reached a stage of "digital maturity," where user loyalty is no longer ensured simply by the presence of a QR code or a transfer. Today, choosing a bank is either inertia (for "Normies" and "Old-schoolers"), calculation (for "Pragmatists" and "The Financially Literate"), or insurance (for "The Burned").
The main barrier to the development of ecosystems now lies not in the lack of features, but in cognitive friction: users are tired of overloaded interfaces, intrusive advertising, and interbank barriers. The ideal service in the eyes of respondents is an invisible assistant that does not force them to think. The winning ecosystem will be the one that offers not the broadest functionality, but the shortest and calmest path from intent to result.
