ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 9. The number of
UnionPay cards in circulation in Kazakhstan as of February 1, 2026,
amounted to 789,400 cards, a 38.27% decrease compared to the 1.28
million cards recorded a year earlier.
Data obtained by Trend from the National Bank of Kazakhstan shows that
the decline was almost entirely driven by debit cards, which fell
to 789,300 from 1.27 million in February 2025. In contrast,
UnionPay credit cards remained stable at a very low volume of 20
units. The category of debit cards with credit limits and prepaid
cards dropped to zero.
Meanwhile, the total number of payment cards in circulation in
Kazakhstan reached 85.06 million as of February 1, 2026, a 1.75%
increase from 83.6 million on the same date in 2025.
As of February 1, 2026, payment cards were issued by 17 banks
and JSC KazPost. These institutions issue cards from international
systems such as VISA, MasterCard, and others, as well as local
system cards under Kaspi.kz.
