In 2021, “The Housing Construction Savings Bank of Kazakhstan” that was renamed to Otbasy Bank will centrally keep records, production and distribution of housing. For this purpose, the priority system from local administrations will be transferred to the bank, where the ‘Housing Center’ will be established. It will operate on the basis of ‘all services in one place’. The service can be used by all categories of citizens in need of housing. Starting next year, it is planned to upgrade the pilot project ‘Shanyrak’ for credit granting to people on the waiting lists taking into account the results of the pilot version.
“We realized that the income standard was quite low and amounted to 3.1 monthly calculation indexes (equivalent of 8,612 tenge or US$21). Work is currently underway to increase it to 3.7 monthly calculation indexes (equivalent of 10,279 tenge or US$24), which will allow most of clients to participate in the program,” said Nurlan Akshanov, Deputy Chairperson of “Otbasy Bank” Housing Construction Savings Bank” JSC.
The Otbasy Bank will speed up the process of providing housing, primarily for socially vulnerable segments of the population. At the same time, the bank will not change the principles of the housing constructions savings system. On the contrary, opportunities are expanding, especially for corporate clients. There is an agreement with the city-forming enterprises that build houses for their workers and provide funds for loans.
“Their workers, whom they select, move into these apartments. They pay a symbolic rent and set aside the deposit money in order to buy out the property after a certain period of time with a soft loan,” stressed Nurlan Akshanov, Deputy Chairperson of “Otbasy Bank” Housing Construction Savings Bank” JSC.
During the pandemic, the bank significantly improved its positions due to digitalization of products. The biometric innovation of video banking has already been used by 77,000 depositors in an online format. This represents almost 20 percent of the total number of deposits opened this year.
