Regulation on Minimum Requirements for Pricing Policies of Banks, Payment Service Providers, and Microfinance Organizations and Marketing Activities

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Creation date: 2026-05-13

Appendix to the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic of December 29, 2021 No. 2021-P-12/75-1-(BS)

REGULATION

on minimum requirements for the pricing policy of banks, payment service providers, and services provided by microfinance organizations, and for the conduct of marketing activities

(In the edition of the Resolutions of the Board of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic of December 28, 2022 No. 2022-P-12/83-8, April 29, 2023 No. 2023-P-12/29-1, January 22, 2025 No. 2025-P-12/2-3-(NFCC), April 27, 2026 No. 2026-P-12/26-3-(NPA))

1. General Provisions

2. The purpose of this Regulation is to ensure a systematic approach to the pricing of banking services by commercial banks, payment services by payment system operators, payment organizations, and services by non-bank financial and credit organizations licensed and regulated by the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic (hereinafter - the National Bank), including those conducting activities in accordance with Islamic principles of banking and financing, taking into account the special terminology applied by them in carrying out banking operations (hereinafter - entities providing banking services), for compliance with the antimonopoly legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as establishing minimum requirements for the conduct of marketing activities by entities providing banking services.

The requirements of this Regulation apply to entities providing banking services in accordance with their indication in the paragraphs and sections of this Regulation.

2. For the purposes of this Regulation:

Pricing Policy is the activity of an entity providing banking services aimed at determining a pricing strategy, which must be formalized in an internal normative document of the entity providing banking services regulating the process of pricing (setting prices) for various banking and payment services (products) and services provided by microfinance organizations, and their changes in accordance with changes in market conditions.

Marketing activities are the activities of commercial banks (hereinafter - banks) aimed at studying, researching, and analyzing the market and consumer demand, collecting and disseminating information about banking products and services in order to increase competitiveness in the market, as well as retaining existing and attracting new clients.

For the purposes of this Regulation:

• under the term "credit" is also meant financing provided in accordance with Islamic principles of banking and financing;
• under the term "interest rate" is also meant the markup on financing provided in accordance with Islamic principles of banking and financing.

Markup is the rate of return on contracts in accordance with Islamic principles of banking and financing, brought to a nominal annual interest rate value, as well as the increase in the borrower's obligation amount compared to the price (cost) of goods, works, or services upon full one-time payment.

(In the edition of the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic of April 27, 2026 No. 2026-P-12/26-3-(NPA))

3. The size of the interest rate, commission fees, as well as tariffs are established independently by entities providing banking services, taking into account the requirements of the banking legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic on restricting usurious activities.

A service for which entities providing banking services charge commissions and other payments must meet the following requirements:

• provide a separate benefit or consumer value to the client;
• be independent and separate from the main service of providing credit;
• not relate to services provided free of charge in accordance with legislative requirements.

(In the edition of the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic of April 27, 2026 No. 2026-P-12/26-3-(NPA))

4. Entities providing banking services, with the exception of payment system operators and payment organizations (not being banks), are prohibited from concluding with an affiliated person and a person related to the bank, as well as any other person who is the owner of a trademark, a contract for the use of the trademark on a paid basis, if the beneficiary is partially or fully such a person under such a contract.

5. Requirements for the pricing policy of entities providing banking services

6. Each entity providing banking services must have a pricing policy approved by the authorized management body (board of directors - for banks and authorized management body/person - for other entities providing banking services).

7. The executive body (board - for banks and authorized executive body/person - for other entities providing banking services) is responsible for the development and implementation of the pricing policy.

8. The pricing policy, depending on the specifics of the activity of the entity providing banking services, must at least provide for the following:

1. goals and objectives of the pricing policy of the entity providing banking services in the implementation of active and passive operations, taking into account risk weighting and justification of remuneration;

2. requirement to conduct market analysis of demand and prices for banking and payment services and services provided by microfinance organizations;

3. requirement to analyze the formation of the structure of interest rates, including interest and non-interest expenses, to achieve the profitability level established by the entity providing banking services;

4. requirement to disclose the components that make up the interest rates on all types of loans (including the cost of attracted funds, cost of loan servicing, operational expenses, expenses for forming a reserve to cover potential losses and losses, taxes, planned profitability rate (margin), and other costs caused by objective factors, regional and other features of the functioning of entities providing banking services), and acceptable lower and upper boundaries of interest rates for the entity providing banking services, as well as requirements for their application and periodic review;

5. requirements for disclosing components of interest rates on all types of deposits, acceptable lower and upper boundaries of interest rates for entities providing banking services, and requirements for their application and periodic review;

6. requirements for justifying the cost of other banking, payment services, and services provided by microfinance organizations in the form of tariffs, commission fees, fixed payments, and requirements for their application and periodic review;

7. justification of the choice of method for determining prices for banking, payment services, and services provided by microfinance organizations to entities providing banking services, as well as requirements for methodologies based on realistic assumptions and features of the business activities of entities providing banking services;

8. powers of management bodies and relevant structural subdivisions of entities providing banking services, their responsibility for achieving the goals of the pricing policy and implementing the pricing strategy of entities providing banking services;

9. requirements for conducting monitoring, control, and analysis of the effectiveness of the pricing policy of the entity providing banking services;

10. requirements for timely informing clients about the terms of providing banking and payment services and services provided by microfinance organizations, and subsequent changes and additions to the current interest rates, commission fees, and tariffs of entities providing banking services;

11. frequency of analysis of current tariffs and requirements for their review and submission for consideration to the authorized management body.

(In the edition of the Resolutions of the Board of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic of December 28, 2022 No. 2022-P-12/83-8, April 29, 2023 No. 2023-P-12/29-1, January 22, 2025 No. 2025-P-12/2-3-(NFCC))

7-3. Entities providing banking services in accordance with Islamic principles of banking and financing, when providing financing for which it is possible to compile a schedule of debt repayment or income accrual, must recalculate the markup/income or the increase in the client's debt amount compared to the price (cost) of goods, works, or services (hereinafter - markup) into a nominal annual interest rate value for the purposes of disclosing information on the cost of financing in accordance with the normative legal acts of the National Bank. The nominal annual interest rate (R_nom) is determined based on the actual absolute amount of markup (I) according to the following algorithm:

1. an equal monthly annuity payment (A) is determined:

A=(financing amount (P)+markup (I))/(financing term in months (k))

where:

P – financing amount; I – markup; k – financing term in months;

2. the nominal rate per month (r) is determined by the iteration method:

A=P*(r*(1+r)^k)/((1+r)^k-1)

where:

r – nominal rate per month; A – monthly annuity payment; P – financing amount; k – financing term in months;

3. the nominal annual interest rate is determined:

R_nom = r*12.

The calculation of the nominal annual interest rate for financing in accordance with Islamic principles is carried out taking into account the assumption of monthly annuity debt repayment.

The nominal annual interest rate must be rounded to ten-thousandths (four decimal places).

For the calculation of the nominal annual interest rate, the financial function "RATE" of the Microsoft EXCEL program (function "rate" if the Microsoft EXCEL version is in English) may be used:

• as the value of "Nper" the financing term in months is used;
• as the value of "Pmt" the monthly annuity payment amount (A), determined in accordance with subparagraph 1 of this paragraph, is indicated with a minus sign;
• as "Pv" the financing amount is used.

To obtain the nominal annual interest rate, the value obtained using the "RATE" function of the Microsoft EXCEL program is multiplied by 12.

(In the edition of the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic of April 27, 2026 No. 2026-P-12/26-3-(NPA))

3. Requirements for the conduct of marketing activities by banks

4. Banks independently determine their marketing strategy/policy in accordance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and normative legal acts of the National Bank.

5. Banks are not limited in their activities in the implementation of marketing tools, except for the requirements of this Regulation.

6. Banks, in carrying out marketing activities, must comply with legislation in the field of antimonopoly regulation, advertising, competition, consumer rights protection, and normative legal acts of the National Bank, as well as adhere to business and professional ethics standards, the norms of which must be regulated in the internal documents of the bank.

7. Advertising about the bank, banking products and services provided, interest rates, commission fees, and tariffs, placed in mass media, on official internet sites, and other media (advertising brochures, roadside billboards, stands, etc.), as well as information provided during client consultations, must be truthful and complete to prevent misleading clients.

In cases where it is impossible to indicate full information in bank advertising, the bank's advertising must contain a link to the official internet site or another information carrier where full information about the terms of providing the corresponding services is placed.

Bank advertising must contain the full name and license number in accordance with the license issued by the National Bank.

(In the edition of the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic of December 28, 2022 No. 2022-P-12/83-8)

12. Bank advertising must not contain information of a political nature, information about political parties and candidates for elective offices, as well as other information of a political nature.

13. Advertising about the bank, its products, and services must not be placed at places and events related to political activities, activities of candidates for elective offices, and political parties.

14. For the purpose of ensuring the availability of information about banking services, any bank advertising or publication about banking services, regardless of the method and place of its placement, must contain information about available communication channels (for example, the bank's official internet site, phone numbers, social networks, messengers, e-mail, etc.).

15. For the bank to use photographs or video recordings depicting the client(s), audio recordings, and other information about them in advertising, marketing materials, and other public purposes, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the client(s) in accordance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

16. When conducting marketing activities, the bank is prohibited from:

• being the organizer of any type of lotteries in accordance with the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On Lotteries";
• conducting "game" events (an event, the condition of which implies competition between participants, giving the opportunity to either win or not win depending on chance);
• sponsoring the conduct of lotteries, raffles, and other game events;
• participating in the distribution of lottery tickets;
• announcing, advertising, or making public the existence of any lottery, lottery winners, raffles, and other "game" events.

17. Banks have the right to open bank accounts for legal entities and state bodies in the conduct of their lottery activities.

18. For the purpose of stimulating clients, rewarding them, attracting new clients, and increasing the level of use of products and banking services, banks have the right to conduct incentive events/promotions.

An incentive event/promotion of a bank is understood as an event not prohibited by this Regulation, aimed at increasing the volume of sales of existing services using various tools for stimulating, rewarding clients, and attracting new clients.

19. An incentive event/promotion of a bank may not contain the following features:

• random determination of winning participants;
• "game" nature;
• paid participation.

20. To comply with the basic principles of banking relations, affiliated/related persons to the bank are prohibited from being participants in incentive events/promotions.

21. Incentive events/promotions of a bank must be conducted in accordance with approved documents containing the procedure/rules of conduct, list of subjects (who can participate), procedure for participation, conditions for determining the winner, formation of the prize, budget, and other requirements for the conducted incentive event/promotion.

22. The bank's announcement of the conduct of an incentive event/promotion must contain the following information:

• name of the incentive event;
• information about the organizer of the incentive event;
• conditions for conduct;
• period of conduct;
• requirements for participants;
• procedure for determining winners;
• procedure for winners to receive prizes;
• rights and obligations of participants;
• rights and obligations of the organizer;
• and other conditions.

23. The results of the conduct of incentive events must be published on the official internet site of the bank, as well as at the choice on other communication channels and information carriers.

24. When conducting a marketing event, the feature of random determination of winning participants does not apply to promotions conducted on social networks for the purpose of promotion, increasing account visits, increasing reach, and increasing interest in the bank. The condition of participation in such promotions must not be the purchase of a banking product or service.

25. Final Provisions

26. The pricing policy and marketing policy implemented by an entity providing banking services must be transparent, comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic on antimonopoly regulation, in the field of personal data protection, banking secrecy, on the development of fair competition, and protection of consumer rights of banking, payment services, and services provided by microfinance organizations.

27. The pricing policy must be reviewed and approved by the authorized management body no less than once a year, taking into account the results and new directions of activity of the entity providing banking services.

28. Entities providing banking services are obliged to provide the pricing policy and internal documents upon request by the National Bank.

In the event of changes to the declared interest rates on deposits and loans, the entity providing banking services is obliged within 7 (seven) working days to notify the relevant structural subdivision of the National Bank about the corresponding changes, providing a detailed justification of the reasons for these changes, as well as to submit internal documents (a copy of the protocol and a copy of the decision (extract) of the authorized body of the entity providing banking services by which they were approved).

In the event of changes to the tariff policy, payment system operators/payment organizations are obliged within 10 (ten) working days to notify the relevant structural subdivision of the National Bank about the changes made, providing a detailed justification of the reasons for these changes, as well as to submit internal documents (a copy of the protocol and a copy of the decision (extract) of the authorized body of the payment system operator/payment organization by which they were approved).

28. The National Bank carries out an analysis of the pricing policy of entities providing banking services for its compliance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

29. Marketing activities of banks must not deviate from the main goals and objectives, negatively affect economic indicators, the reputation of the bank, and correspond to the capabilities and financial condition of the bank.

30. In the event of violation of the requirements for the conduct of marketing activities, the bank bears responsibility in accordance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Contacts

Public Reception

+996 (312) 61-04-86 +996 (312) 66-90-15 +1257, +1256

Department for the Protection of Consumer Rights

+996 (312) 66-90-15 +1671, +1666

Report Corruption

+996 (312) 66-90-15 +2120 +996 (312) 61-04-00

Auto-informer of Official Exchange Rates

+996 (312) 61-07-11

Numismatic Museum

+996 (312) 66-90-15 +1232 +996 (312) 61-24-14

E-mail

mail@nbkr.kg

For Media Relations

press@nbkr.kg

720010, Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek, Kievskaya St., 189