Synopsis: Kazakhstan and Afghanistan are strengthening banking cooperation by improving cross-border payment systems and correspondent banking ties to support rising bilateral trade and facilitate seamless financial transactions.
Kazakhstan and Afghanistan seem to be taking steps to strengthen that financial partnership a bit more, by widening banking cooperation, for the sake of supporting the growing bilateral trade and also improving cross-border payments. This idea was brought up during a meeting where Kazakhstan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin met Mohammad Ismail Ghazanfar, Chairman of Afghanistan’s Ghazanfar Bank.
In the course of the talks, both sides seemed to insist that a dependable, and also transparent, banking framework is needed, in order to keep up the swift expansion in trade between the two countries. Kazakhstan again reaffirmed that it wants to deepen its economic ties with Afghanistan, and it noted that having an effective banking infrastructure is a real cornerstone, for making sure financial settlements don’t get disrupted for companies involved in cross-border commerce, quite uninterrupted basically.
The meeting sort of focused on a bunch of measures meant to strengthen financial connectivity a bit more. Things like expanding correspondent banking relationships, setting up direct banking channels, improving the ways cross border payments work, and also boosting financial support for international trade operations were mentioned. Officials went on to say that another Kazakh financial institution is currently working on putting correspondent banking accounts in place with Ghazanfar Bank, so that should further tighten the financial ties between the two nations.
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The talks are happening at the same time as a pretty noticeable surge in the bilateral trade. In the stretch from January to April 2026, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan came in at $342.4 million, and that is well over twice the $150.6 million noted for the same months in 2025. Kazakhstan’s exports were about $338.5 million, mostly propelled by sharper deliveries of wheat, wheat flour, and wheat-rye flour. There were also higher volumes of sunflower oil, plus other agri-commodities, things like that.
Financial cooperation has expanded pretty a lot in recent years, like, arguably. As Kazakhstan’s Ministry of National Economy puts it, two of the country’s 23 commercial banks still keep correspondent banking relationships with Afghan financial institutions. Cross border payments and money transfers between the two countries were about 140 billion tenge, roughly $289 million, in 2025, and that’s a 26% jump compared to the year before. In the same period, payments linked to goods and services saw a fivefold increase too.
Ghazanfar Bank, one of Afghanistan’s oldest commercial banks, has been in motion since 2009, under a license that came from the country’s central bank. The bank gives both conventional services and Islamic banking services at once, while also keeping correspondent banking ties with institutions across Kazakhstan Türkiye the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Uzbekistan and Bahrain. In Kazakhstan, its main correspondent ally is Zaman Bank. The bank, handled almost $1.3 billion in international payments and transfers during 2025. Which points to its growing importance for regional money flow, and for trade connectivity in general.