The net profit of Kazakh banks for 2024, according to official statistics, has approached 2.6 trillion tenge. In comparison, the banking sector earned approximately 2.2 trillion tenge in 2023 and 1.5 trillion tenge in 2022. Thus, it can be stated that the sector's profitability continues to grow steadily.
According to the consolidated report published on the website of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, banks' interest income in 2024 reached 7.4 trillion tenge (compared to 5.7 trillion tenge in 2023), including from client operations or related to lending — 5.3 trillion tenge (for comparison, in 2023 it was 4.1 trillion tenge). The sector received significantly less from deposits placed in the National Bank of Kazakhstan — 809.8 billion tenge (while in 2023 it was only 309.5 billion tenge) and from securities operations — 757.5 billion tenge (in 2023 — 766.1 billion tenge). Commission income amounted to 1.1 trillion tenge, roughly the same as the previous year.
Meanwhile, expenses related to remuneration amounted to nearly 4 trillion tenge in 2024 (compared to 3 trillion tenge in 2023), including for deposit operations — 3.1 trillion tenge (in 2023 — 2.4 trillion tenge). Commission expenses were recorded at 332 billion tenge (in 2023 — 300.9 billion tenge). However, labor costs exceeded 592.8 billion tenge, compared to 472.1 billion tenge the previous year. For administrative and operational needs, Kazakh banks spent 337.9 billion tenge in 2024, compared to 274.4 billion tenge in 2023.
As for tax payments and other contributions to the budget, the banking sector has already paid about 90.8 billion tenge to the state in 2024. The amount of corporate income tax accrued for the period exceeded 451.4 billion tenge.
By the way, in 2023, banks paid taxes amounting to 72 billion tenge, plus corporate income tax (CIT) — 324.3 billion tenge.
It is worth noting that the country's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has repeatedly pointed out that the banking sector has shown "superprofits" in recent years. Moreover, this super profitability, according to him, is not the result of effective banking operations but primarily the consequence of the high base rate used by the National Bank to combat inflation. Earlier, the president criticized banks for not financing the real sector of the economy.
"Therefore, we are talking about fair taxation of this sector," Tokayev stated during his September address to the people of Kazakhstan in 2024. He also noted that the taxes paid by banks should be proportional to the dividends of their shareholders.
The president's initiative was picked up by the deputies of the Mazhilis. Currently, they propose to raise the corporate income tax for banks to 30%, although in the draft of the new Tax Code it is already set at 25%, the same as for the gambling business.
Meanwhile, back in June 2024, the head of the National Bank, Timur Suleimenov, asserted that it is wrong to "distinguish" banks and punish them with a higher rate compared to other sectors. "As a financial macro-regulator, we believe that banks should not be equated with gambling establishments and bookmakers. Yes, banks have had relatively successful years recently, and as you know, this was facilitated by the high base rate both globally and in our country, they earned quite well. But overall, they are not a super-profitable sector. This is not the oil industry, let alone the gambling business. Therefore, in our opinion, distinguishing them and punishing them with a higher CIT rate is not entirely correct," he said.
Suleimenov also explained that raising the corporate income tax for banks could affect the cost of borrowed funds and impact other factors, including investments.
Two months later, in September, at that time still the chairman of the board of ForteBank, Bekzhan Pirmatov, also noted that high incomes for banks have only been observed in recent years. It is difficult to predict whether this trend will continue in the future. In turn, the banker suggested looking at the experience of developed countries, where "one-time taxes on super profits" are implemented. Pirmatov is convinced that this approach would be more appropriate if we are talking about the further development of the sector.
However, according to the head of Halyk Bank, Umut Shayaakhmetova, considering the issue of increasing the CIT on the net profits of banks will not save the state budget, as taxes will still be reduced. "In this regard, it is necessary to look at the medium- and long-term perspective, rather than trying to 'shear the sheep' from someone 'in the moment,'" she voiced this position in November last year at the XII Congress of Financiers of Kazakhstan. According to Shayaakhmetova, banks are already among the largest taxpayers in the country.