Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan

On the final day of the 5th anniversary edition of the Tashkent International Investment Forum, a series of important panel sessions continued with the participation of international experts, investors, and business representatives. In particular, an open discussion titled “From Transactions to Ecosystems: Uzbekistan’s Fintech Inflection Point (by Uzum)” addressed key trends in the development of the digital financial services market in the country, the formation of fintech ecosystems, and the future prospects of the sector.

The discussion featured Jon Hyman, Senior Advisor at Uzum, and Nikolay Seleznev, Co-founder of Uzum and Director for Strategy and Business Development. During the conversation, participants exchanged views on the company’s experience in building an ecosystem, the integration of fintech and e-commerce services, as well as the opportunities driving the rapid development of the digital economy in Uzbekistan.

Jon Hyman participated as moderator and noted that Uzbekistan has a healthy competitive environment among fintech companies. He emphasized that the government’s policy of supporting digital innovation, as well as the reforms implemented under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, are highly valued by international investors.

Nikolay Seleznev stated that in recent years, international investors have increasingly begun to recognize the potential and opportunities of Uzbekistan’s economy. According to him, while growth in developed markets is largely driven by optimization, Uzbekistan has the potential to grow through the creation of new demand, new types of economic activity, and new opportunities.

He also noted that the fintech sector is gradually becoming a standard service segment like other industries. In this regard, the company is making significant investments in infrastructure, including the development of an ATM network, in order to make financial services more accessible for customers.

Seleznev emphasized that the company carefully studies successful experiences from markets such as Latin America, East Asia, and Kazakhstan. However, he noted that the era of achieving success through direct replication of business models is over. Therefore, each product and service must be adapted to local market characteristics, consumer needs, and economic conditions.

Experts highlighted that one of the key advantages of the Uzum ecosystem is its deep understanding of the local market and its long-term investments in national infrastructure. It was noted that Uzum is becoming one of the most recognizable brands for millions of users in the online retail space.

“Credit penetration in Uzbekistan remains relatively low compared to many international markets, which indicates significant growth potential in this sector. Therefore, the company is developing advanced systems for assessing borrowers’ creditworthiness by analyzing customer behavior and financial indicators using artificial intelligence and big data analytics,” said Nikolay Seleznev.

He also stressed that artificial intelligence has become a key component of the Uzum ecosystem. According to him, the company actively applies AI solutions across all areas -from product development to technological processes.

Within the Uzum ecosystem, artificial intelligence plays an important role in monitoring retail prices, improving credit scoring systems, and enhancing the efficiency of customer support services.

It was also noted that Uzum has the potential to expand its user base by an additional 5 million customers by the end of the year. The discussion highlighted that Uzum has the potential to grow 5–10 times in terms of both user numbers and the scale of financial services, with the company maintaining a highly optimistic long-term outlook for the Uzbek market.