The founder and CEO of diversified investment group Freedom Holding, Timur Turlov, sees a boost in cross-border e-commerce activity between China and Kazakhstan, following a recent cooperation agreement signed in Beijing.
Freedom Bank, part of Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding, last week entered into an agreement with virtual payment provider Verum Payments and UnionPay Business, a unit of the Chinese state-owned financial services firm UnionPay, to support the development of Kazakhstan-China cross-border e-commerce and promote economic ties between the two countries.
In an interview, Turlov said the pact marked “another step in boosting regional trade”, as it would help open payment channels and corresponding accounts in both yuan and US dollars.
“The opportunity now is to build interoperable platforms – ones that can facilitate cross-border flows, while maintaining high regulatory standards,” he said. “That includes everything from digital lending and tokenised assets to AI-driven credit scoring tailored to frontier economies.”
“We believe in establishing direct integration to simplify payments between China and Kazakhstan,” he said. “As a leading fintech player, we aim to collaborate with various Chinese fintech firms and use all UnionPay gateways, WeChat and the broader Chinese e-commerce ecosystem.”
The agreement, which was signed during the official visit of Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to China last month, reflected the growing ties between the Central Asian country and the world’s second-largest economy.