Kazakhstan's Freedom Holding Corp applies for French banking license, ready to invest €500 million (updated)

Freedom Holding

03/06/2026 08:32

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    ALMATY, June 3 (Reuters) - U.S.-listed Kazakhstan financial group Freedom Holding Corp FRHC_KZ.KZ has applied for a banking license in France where it plans to invest €500 million over the next five years, its CEO Timur Turlov told Reuters on Wednesday. 
Almaty-headquartered Freedom operates in Kazakhstan and several other Central Asian countries, but it is on an expansion push and looking to acquire or found banks in Europe. 
It obtained a banking license in Georgia last year and said it was buying a Turkish bank in March. 
"We have submitted documents to the French banking regulator to obtain a banking license in France and have announced an investment of €500 million, which we are prepared to make over the next five years to develop a digital bank and build digital infrastructure," Turlov said.
Freedom Holding Corp conducts securities brokerage operations, and offers investment banking services. 
It owns a bank, two insurance companies, a brokerage firm, and other entities in Kazakhstan and says it aims to serve as an instrument of integration across the vast Eurasian region, stretching from Turkey to Mongolia. 

($1 = 0.8610 euros)

 (Reporting by Felix Light and Mariya Gordeyeva;
Editing by Bernadette Baum and Joe Bavier)