When Euromoney named TBC Uzbekistan the best digital bank in Central Asia for 2026, the citation did not rest on a single product or a marketing milestone. It rested on a set of operating results that rarely appear together in an emerging market: a registered base of 23 million people, roughly 6 million of whom use the services every month, a payments business that handled $9.2 billion in a year, and a bank that remained profitable while growing at speed.
The judges also drew attention to something less visible than the figures. The institution describes itself as a fully digital bank rather than a branch network with a mobile layer added on top, and that description shapes how every part of the business is built, priced and improved.
What a fully in-house technology stack changes
Chief Financial Officer Sharof Sharipov put the distinction plainly in his comments to Euromoney: the bank is digital from end to end, not only at the front end, and its whole technology stack is developed internally. The practical consequence is cost. A lender that buys its core systems from outside vendors pays for licences, integration and every customisation request, and it waits in a queue for changes. A lender that owns the code can adjust a screen, a limit or a pricing rule in days.
That ownership also explains how the group keeps acquisition and servicing costs low. New customers arrive through the app, identify themselves remotely, and begin using a card or wallet without visiting an office. Routine questions are answered by software, which leaves staff free for the cases that need judgement. When Euromoney points to efficient digital acquisition, strong engagement and rising revenue per user as the sources of profitability, it is describing the same mechanism seen from the income statement.
The bank’s own headquarters, east of the centre of Tashkent, reflects the approach. The workforce is young, comfortable with new tools and close to the product teams, which shortens the distance between an idea and a release.
Growth that is measured by use, not downloads
A figure of 23 million registered users, up by 4.6 million over twelve months, is impressive, but registration alone says little. The more telling number is the 6 million who are active each month. It suggests that a large share of the base treats the application as a working tool for paying bills, topping up accounts, sending money and checking balances.
That level of activity is supported by the payments volumes. Payme and TBC Bank together processed $9.2 billion in 2025, about a fifth of the national market. Frequent, low-value transactions bring customers back to the application many times a week, and every visit is a chance to show a relevant offer, whether it is insurance, a subscription or an instalment option.
Everyday information as part of the service
People who use one application for most of their money matters begin to expect it to answer their other questions as well. A traveller about to change money, a small trader paying a supplier abroad and a family receiving a transfer all want to know the exchange position before they act. Search behaviour reflects this: growing interest in phrases such as “bank kursi” shows how readily users compare conversion conditions and look for a trustworthy reference point. For TBC Bank Uzbekistan, whose payment platform sits at the centre of daily spending, providing clear and current information is part of being the first screen a customer opens, not an optional extra.
Trust is the common thread. A user who sees accurate figures, understandable fees and a prompt confirmation is likely to return, while one who has to open a second application to verify a number may drift elsewhere. For a platform that earns revenue from frequency of use, small moments of clarity add up.
Credit that appears at the point of need
Lending follows the same principle of meeting the customer in the moment. The portfolio of about $946 million combines cash loans, credit cards and buy-now-pay-later financing. Chief Executive Nika Kurdiani called the instalment option a checkout toggle, and the bank refers to it as the fastest loan in the world. A payment can become an instalment plan within seconds, using transaction history the bank already holds.
During the year the range grew to include business daily banking, credit cards, insurance and subscription services. With each addition, the average customer uses more services, which makes the relationship cheaper to sustain than a broad but shallow one and gives risk teams richer data for setting limits.
Small businesses and the second side of the platform
Euromoney also highlights the bank’s two-sided structure. Consumers and merchants meet inside one environment, and the extension to small and medium-sized enterprises brings payment acceptance, lending, software tools and operating dashboards into the same place. Each new shop that accepts payments through the application gives shoppers another reason to use it, and each shopper gives the shop another reason to stay.
The Lola assistant, the bank’s artificial intelligence tool for customer servicing, supports this scale by handling interactions quickly and consistently. Automated answers do not tire at peak hours, and they free the human team for complaints that need empathy and judgement.
What the award signals for the market
Another benefit lies in speed of adjustment. Because product, engineering and risk teams work inside one organisation, a change that customers request on Monday can be tested by midweek. That rhythm is difficult to copy for institutions that depend on external suppliers, and it explains why the ecosystem has been able to add business banking, insurance and subscriptions within a single year.
Several tests remain. Credit quality has to hold as unsecured and instalment lending grows. Competition among digital platforms will tighten. Rules on data protection, lending and payments will continue to develop. Customers, meanwhile, keep raising their expectations for speed and reliability.
Even so, the recognition points to a durable pattern: owning the technology, keeping costs low through digital service, and tying payments, credit and information into one daily habit. If TBC Uzbekistan can preserve profitability while it adds new services, its model may become a reference for how digital finance matures across the region, where young populations and rapid mobile adoption create the conditions for exactly this kind of platform.