Kazakhstan and Turkey Strengthen Economic Cooperation: The Freedom Holding Case

Presidents of Kazakhstan and Turkey, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, took part in the Kazakh-Turkish Business Forum in Ankara. During the meeting, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to further expanding trade and economic cooperation and increasing mutual investment.

Tokayev noted that Kazakhstan remains the largest economy in Central Asia: the country’s GDP exceeded $300 billion last year, while economic growth reached 6.5%. The President also emphasized that around 3,800 companies with Turkish capital currently operate in Kazakhstan, while bilateral projects are creating new jobs and stimulating industrial cooperation.

Erdoğan stated that Turkey closely follows Kazakhstan’s economic development and views the country as a key trade and economic partner in the Turkic world. According to him, the goal of both countries is to increase bilateral trade turnover to $15 billion.

Tokayev noted that Kazakh and Turkish companies are already implementing joint projects across these sectors. As one example, he mentioned Freedom Holding: the President stressed that the company is building a digital ecosystem in Turkey and scaling its brokerage business there.

Entry Point

Freedom Holding’s expansion into Turkey began in 2025, when the holding received regulatory approval to launch the brokerage company Freedom Yatırım Menkul Değerler. According to the company’s CEO, Timur Turlov, Freedom sees significant growth potential in the country.

Turkey remains one of the region’s most dynamic financial markets. The country has a developed stock market infrastructure, high retail investor activity, and growing public interest in investment products, with around 70 brokerage firms currently operating there. In April 2026, the capitalization of the local stock market reached $509 billion, while the number of active investment accounts continues to grow. Against the backdrop of persistently high inflation in recent years, investments in stocks and financial instruments have become an important way for Turkish retail investors to preserve capital.

This creates strong demand for brokerage services for Freedom. The company gained the opportunity to offer Turkish clients access both to the domestic market and to international exchanges, including U.S. stock markets, which has traditionally remained one of the holding’s key strengths.

Acquisition of a Bank

In 2026, Freedom moved to the second stage of its strategy and announced the acquisition of a 99.32% stake in Turkish Bank A.Ş. from Özyol Holding and National Bank of Kuwait. Following regulatory approvals, the transaction will provide the company with a полноценную banking platform in a country with a population of around 90 million people. Turkish Bank has operated in the Turkish market since 1982 and provides corporate, commercial, and retail banking services.

The bank acquisition is strategically important for the holding. While the brokerage business enables the company to attract an investment audience, a banking license opens much broader opportunities: payments, deposits, lending, SME servicing, and integration of cards and payment services.

Why Turkey Matters for Freedom

The Turkish market is attractive to the holding for several reasons. First, it is a large economy with a high level of digitalization. More than 120 million digital banking accounts are registered in the country, while mobile banking is used by around 85% of the population — one of the highest rates in the world.

Second, Turkey serves as a regional financial hub between Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Presence in this jurisdiction gives Freedom not only access to local clients, but also a strategic platform for further scaling its services.

Third, the Turkish market is well suited for the ecosystem model. The country has high penetration of mobile services, digital payments, and online financial products. For the company, this creates an opportunity to scale the SuperApp model that has already been tested in Kazakhstan.

Ecosystem Expansion

Freedom Holding Corp. has significantly expanded its international presence in recent years. The company operates in more than 20 countries, including Kazakhstan, the United States, Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Caucasus.

In addition to Turkey, the group is developing new направления in Georgia, Tajikistan, the UAE, and other jurisdictions. The holding is also considering further expansion of its brokerage and banking businesses into new markets while scaling multiple lifestyle services. Freedom Holding is publicly traded on NASDAQ and is included in the Russell 3000 index.

For the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, the group reported revenue of $628.6 million and net income of $76.2 million. Over the first nine months of the fiscal year, revenue reached $1.688 billion, while net income totaled $145.4 million.

The total audience of the company’s services exceeded 11 million users. The number of brokerage clients reached 828,000, while banking clients totaled 4.5 million. Institutional investors in the company include BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase.