BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 25. Fitch Ratings
has upgraded Uzum Holding Ltd.’s Long-Term Foreign- and
Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to ‘B+’ from ‘B’, with
Stable Outlooks, citing stronger integration across its banking,
fintech and e-commerce businesses and an improving operating
environment in Uzbekistan.


This was reflected in the statement by the Fitch Ratings.


Fitch said Uzum has benefited from increasing synergies among
its businesses, strengthening its overall business profile while
maintaining solid financial performance. The agency expects the
group to sustain profitable growth as Uzbekistan’s e-commerce and
fintech markets remain relatively underpenetrated.


Uzum reported that its ecosystem served more than 20 million
monthly users in 2026, equivalent to more than half of Uzbekistan’s
population of about 38 million. Its largest subsidiary,
Kapitalbank, accounted for 6% of Uzbekistan’s banking-sector loans
at the end of the first half of 2026.


The group also holds a leading position in Uzbekistan’s
developing digital economy. E-commerce accounted for just 4% of
retail sales in 2025, compared with a global average of 20%, while
Uzum’s fintech transaction volumes reached $1.2 billion, up from
$400 million in 2024. Its e-commerce gross merchandise value
increased to $500 million from $345 million, while processed
payments more than doubled to over $11 billion.


According to Trend’s calculations, Uzum’s fintech transaction
volume tripled between 2024 and 2025, while e-commerce GMV
increased by about 45%. Processed payments rose by more than 100%
over the same period. At the group level, gross debt to tangible
equity improved to 6.3 times at end-1H2026 from 10 times at
end-2023, representing a reduction of about 37% in the leverage
ratio.







Kapitalbank remains the largest component of the group,
accounting for 83% of consolidated assets and 48% of operating
profit in 1H2026, down from 91% and 61%, respectively, in 2024.
Fitch said this decline demonstrates the growing contribution of
Uzum’s fintech and e-commerce businesses.


Kapitalbank’s Fitch Core Capital ratio stood at 16.4% at
end-1H2026, up from 14.6% at end-2025, while its impaired-loan
ratio was 5%. The bank’s loans-to-deposits ratio was 82%,
significantly below the sector average of 137%.


Fitch also highlighted Uzum’s strengthening capitalization. The
group raised nearly $70 million in equity in 2025, led by Tencent
Holdings, and more than $130 million in March 2026 from Omani
sovereign entities and existing investors.


Liquidity has also strengthened, with group cash and cash
equivalents rising to $1.3 billion at end-1H2026 from $1 billion at
end-2025. Som-denominated bonds increased to $124 million from $62
million over the same period.


At the same time, Fitch said the ratings remain constrained by
Uzum’s rapid growth, the limited track record of its business model
through economic cycles and risks associated with buy-now-pay-later
lending. A planned Eurobond could also introduce foreign-currency risk if
the exposure is not hedged.