Kazakhstan’s Jusan Bank to Change Hands

As rumored last week, Vyacheslav Kim, one of Kazakhstan’s richest men, announced his intention to buy a controlling stake in Jusan Bank, the sixth-largest lender in the country.

Kim owns 20.4% in Kaspi.kz, the group that owns the fintech bank Kaspi, which surged to second-largest bank in the country in recent years. Kim applied with the Agency for the Regulation of the Financial Market to purchase 97.5% of Jusan, Kaspi.kz’s press service told Vlast on January 13.

“I would like to note that this transaction has nothing to do with Kaspi.kz,” the press service quoted Kim as saying.

In August 2023, businessman Galimzhan Yessenov became the owner of 97.5% of Jusan. Previously known as Tsesnabank, Jusan was taken over in 2020 by an obscure fund, Pioneer Capital Invest, linked to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev and a network of offshore companies.

In 2022, in connection with the campaign to return illegally-withdrawn assets, the government forced the Jusan group to “bring back” its assets to Kazakhstan, which allowed Yessenov to purchase a controlling stake.