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Uzbekistan ’s peregrine - exclusive depository financial institution , TBC Bank Uzbekistan , has raised $ 37 million in a unexampled funding round to bolster its dominating digital comportment in the cardinal Asian nation by develop new AI and tech products and attracting more tech - savvy customers .
The sweet investment , made by the bank ’s London - ground parent TBC Group , comes just five months after itraised $ 38.5 millionin July . The parent fellowship also direct the last unit of ammunition , which included involution from its shareholders , the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( EBRD ) and the World Bank ’s International Finance Corporation ( IFC ) .
Uzbekistan has been an attractive market for digital business sector in recent years , with nearly 90 % internet insight and a young population — 60 % of its entire population is under 30 , per UNICEF . However , a meaning portion of the commonwealth ’s banking plus remains with its state banks . TBC Group sees this as a growth chance .
start in 2020 under TBC Group Uzbekistan , the bank building offers a mobile app through which customers can open up savings bank accounts and admittance banking services , include hard cash loanword and deposit . It is 60 % have by London ’s TBC Group and 20 % each by IFC and EBRD .
The Uzbekistan group recently expanded its financial lineup in the nation with its in - sign of the zodiac processing nerve center to streamline payment operation and shorten time - to - market for novel offering , and entered strategic partnership with Visa and Mastercard . Further , it bring in the Salom debit entry card and Osmon credit wag and launched TBC Business , a digital banking service for small and medium Uzbek enterprises .
In the last few month , TBC Uzbekistan also commence building its proprietary AI solution , including agents to handle payment reminder birdsong for customers take loans . Hughes told TechCrunch that those federal agent hang 42 % of all the reminder call in the third quarter .
Next year , TBC Uzbekistan plans to expand its AI development by add service and sales bot and a dialogue - ground fluid inspection and repair to permit client interact with its app using their voice or else of decease through a text - based interface .
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“ We ’re get going deeper into the financial life history of retail customer across Uzbekistan . So we ’re build out vertical by vertical into different products , ” Oliver Hughes , head of external business at TBC Group , said in an exclusive consultation .
Hughes told TechCrunch that the group hired AI expert who build AI assistant Alice for Russia ’s Yandex . These expert have built a finance - specific LLM based on Meta ’s Llama that understands local nuances and local terminology , including Uzbek , the executive said .
While Hughes did not give away the exact capital the radical is specifically putting into its AI effort , he said that “ a material component part of the money arouse will be going to the AI projects , but still , the overwhelming bulk will be for build and scaling ” its business enterprise and consumer products .
One of them will be insurance policy .
TBC Uzbekistan currently offer insurance through a third - political party service supplier , but it be after to become an insurer in the country next twelvemonth . It also design a buy now , pay later solution and an SME loaning product . likewise , the nomadic cant will heighten its Salom debit notice with new benefits and offerings to attract more customers .
Uzbekistan has not yet been a extremely competitive market for a banking entity . However , the country ’s maturate digital base and youthful population have drawn interest from foreign thespian . Hungry ’s OTP BankandSouth Korea ’s Korea Development Bankhave already set up their shop in the nation . Similarly , France ’s Société Générale , Kazakhstan ’s Kaspi , and theUnited commonwealth ’ Citi Bankare exploring to enter the rural area .
“ It ’s not extremely competitory today , but it will certainly become more and more competitive as we could go along over the next few age , ” Hughes said .
TBC Uzbekistan , which also operate the digital payments app Payme and Sharia - compliant credit business Payme Nasiya , has a exploiter base of 16.9 million user as of September , up from 13.2 million users in December 2023 . It also has 4.9 million monthly active users and garnered a final profit of $ 27 million for the first nine calendar month of the year , up from $ 23 million in the financial twelvemonth 2023 . Moreover , it ’s projecting $ 75 million in net profit in 2025 .
