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

On the third day of the Tashkent International Investment Forum, a session titled “Journey of TBC as a Market Disruptor Shaping Online Banking in Uzbekistan” took place. The session discussed TBC Bank’s journey from initial investments to significant market impact through innovative approaches and new technologies.

The session was moderated by Jonathan Charles, Communications Consultant at the Office of the Adviser to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. During the discussion, the factors that contributed to TBC’s rapid growth and the role of investors in this process were highlighted.

Oliver Hughes, Head of International Business at TBC Bank Group PLC, was a key speaker at the session.

“For TBC Georgia was a small country. So, we started thinking about expansion. Then we found a country similar to Georgia - Uzbekistan. In 2019, we decided to enter this market. Later, we were able to partially, and then fully, acquire the company Payme,” said the speaker.

Currently, TBC Digital has almost 20 million registered users, which is several times more than the population of Georgia. The monthly number of active users has reached 6 million.

“In 2024, we achieved a profit of $41 million. We quickly became profitable after starting our operations, setting a world record among fintech companies. To succeed in business as a foreign company, it is, of course, essential to localize and study the market in-depth. We also made mistakes at the beginning and faced difficulties,” said Oliver Hughes.

The representative of TBC Bank Group emphasized that Uzbekistan is a hospitable country with highly qualified and talented personnel. Oliver Hughes also praised the openness of the country’s banking system: “In many cases, Uzbekistan’s banking system is more advanced than even some European countries. This is one of the factors that makes the country attractive for digital players.”

In his speech, the speaker also talked about TBC’s projects in artificial intelligence (AI). The company has already invested $10 million in AI projects:

“Creating AI-based projects is very complex and expensive. We’ve just invested $10 million, but we need to attract much more investment. The complexity lies in how people communicate here - there are different dialects, constant switching between Russian and Uzbek, and two different alphabets, which makes AI training take more time. If we do not create a perfect communication technology, we won’t be able to maintain constant contact with our clients.”

Oliver Hughes also mentioned that in the coming months, TBC will introduce an application based on Large Language Model (LLM), which will pave the way for a new era in banking systems.

The session presented a broader view of the emerging fintech ecosystem in Uzbekistan. The prospects for expanding digital financial services, implementing technological innovations, and increasing competition in the market were thoroughly analyzed.

Special attention was given to TBC Bank’s leading role in the market, innovative approaches to online banking, and the bank’s contribution to improving the investment climate in the region.