Kaspi Bank has started a pilot of instant B2B payments for online stores, crediting funds to suppliers in less than 10 seconds. The first 200 trading partners are already connected and conducting transactions with a check of up to 300 million tenge without waiting for D+1.

Kaspi Bank is expanding its payment infrastructure and testing a new system of instant cashless B2B settlements for e-commerce and marketplaces in Kazakhstan. This involves transitioning from the classic next-day credit model to almost instantaneous settlements between sellers, suppliers, and logistics companies. For the Kazakh online market, this is critical: according to the Agency for Competition Protection and Development, the volume of e-commerce in 2024 exceeded 2.2 trillion tenge and continues to grow at double-digit rates. Today's pilot shows that the pressure on commission fees and the speed of money turnover in the region will increase sharply in the coming months.

Kaspi's Instant Payments for Business: What Has Been Launched

According to fintech market participants in Almaty, Kaspi Bank launched a closed pilot of the instant B2B payment service for a part of connected online stores and partners of its marketplace in April-May 2026. This involves settlements between legal entities and individual entrepreneurs for the supply of goods and services, where the standard credit period was T+1 or T+2 banking days. Under the new regime, money is credited to the counterparty's account on average within 5-10 seconds after confirming the transaction in the Kaspi Business personal account.

According to several connected merchants, about 200 companies from categories such as electronics, home appliances, fashion, and marketplace sellers participate in the pilot. The maximum single payment limit in the test mode is limited to around 300 million tenge, and the daily limit per client can reach 1-1.5 billion tenge, depending on the financial profile and turnover. The commission currently ranges from 0.1 to 0.25 percent, which is significantly lower than the average rates for corporate payments in traditional internet banking.

Technologically, Kaspi uses its existing high-load infrastructure serving P2P transfers and acquiring but adds a separate risk management circuit for legal entities. On the merchant side, this looks as simple as possible: instead of the expected status 'credited by the end of the day' after sending a payment, the status 'credited' appears almost instantly, allowing suppliers to immediately ship goods or pay for logistics. According to one pilot participant, this reduces the financial cycle of procurement from an average of 7-10 banking days to 1-2 days.

For Kazakh e-commerce companies, this is not just convenience but a change in the financial model. Faster money turnover allows working with a smaller amount of working capital or, conversely, increasing warehouse stocks and product range by 15-25 percent at the same volume. Companies like Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz), which implement billing and ERP integrations with banking APIs, are already seeing an increase in requests for 'instant settlement' scenarios from marketplaces and large retailers.

Fintech and the Hidden Cost of Instant Payments for Banks and Businesses

The transition to instant payments creates a new balance between speed, commission, and risks. International research shows that when instant payments are launched, the share of fraud in some banks increases by 40-60 percent in the first 12 months due to reduced transaction verification time. Market sources confirm that Kaspi has strengthened anti-fraud filters, including analysis of abnormal payment patterns between companies, beneficiary verification, and automatic stopping of suspicious transactions at the millisecond level.

For businesses, the hidden cost of speed is reflected in the need for stricter management of limits and internal procedures. An instant payment cannot be 'withdrawn' as easily as an incomplete transaction in a classic internet bank. Therefore, large merchants introduce two-factor approval for payments over 100-150 million tenge, separation of employee rights in accounting, and a separate daily reconciliation window, despite the round-the-clock service operation. According to one market consultant, it will take medium-sized companies 1 to 3 months to adapt internal regulations.

For Kaspi, the question is whether it can keep the commission at a low level. Today's range of 0.1-0.25 percent looks aggressive compared to the classic corporate RDO, where the effective rate for frequent payments can reach 0.3-0.5 percent. However, the bank expects to compensate for this by increasing turnover: if at least 20-30 percent of existing e-commerce B2B settlements move to the instant format, this will increase the transaction volume by tens of billions of tenge per month.

Companies like Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz), which provide transaction monitoring services and behavioral analytics systems, already offer businesses additional 'layers of protection': automatic counterparty verification from several databases, alerts for abnormal amounts, and API integrations with accounting systems 1C and similar. This allows reducing the risk of errors and fraud at high payment speeds without overloading employees with manual checks.

E-commerce and Marketplaces: How Instant Payments Change the Growth Model

The Kazakh e-commerce market has become one of the most dynamic in Central Asia in recent years. According to the Ministry of Trade and Integration, in 2024, the volume of online trade exceeded 2.2 trillion tenge, and the share of e-commerce in retail turnover approached 15-16 percent. At the same time, a significant part of the turnover is concentrated in large ecosystems and marketplaces, where hundreds of thousands of small sellers depend on the speed of payments from the platform.

The model of instant B2B settlements currently being tested by Kaspi is capable of redistributing financial flows within the value chain. Marketplace sellers will be able to receive money for sold goods virtually on the day of sale, rather than waiting for the usual 3-7 calendar days. This is especially important for categories with high turnover and low margins, such as FMCG, cosmetics, and inexpensive household appliances. Accelerating the turnover of funds by 20-30 percent can allow such sellers to finance growth through their own cash flow rather than credit lines at 18-25 percent per annum.

Logistics companies and 3PL operators also benefit from instant payments. Instead of weekly post-payment, they can set up automatic payments after order delivery confirmation. This reduces cash gaps and allows offering platforms more flexible tariffs. However, according to IT partners, integrating instant scenarios requires marketplaces to rebuild billing systems and contractual arrangements with partners. Here, integrators come to the fore: companies like Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz) take on the development of API gateways between the bank, the marketplace's ERP, and logistics accounting systems.

For large chain retailers actively moving online, instant B2B payments can become a tool for negotiating with suppliers. The transition from 30-45 days of payment deferral to almost instantaneous settlements allows achieving a discount of 2-5 percent from the price list, which, with annual turnovers of tens of billions of tenge, translates into tangible savings. In exchange for more favorable terms, retailers can finance purchases through accelerated cash flow from online sales rather than credit lines.

Regional Fintech: Impact on Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, UAE, and Turkey

The launch of instant B2B payments in Kazakhstan is not a local event: for neighboring markets, it is a benchmark for how quickly the region's payment infrastructure is being restructured to meet the demands of e-commerce. In Uzbekistan, in 2024-2025, the regulator is actively promoting the development of the national fast payment system, and the largest banks and fintech players are implementing fast P2P transfers for the population. The logical next step will be the extension of these tools to the B2B segment and marketplaces, especially given the growth of Uzbek online retail and exports to the Kazakh market.

Georgia and Azerbaijan are focusing on the development of digital banks and cross-border acquiring. For them, the experience of Kazakh players is important in the context of integrating instant payments with tax systems and electronic invoices. In these countries, government portals and unified registries are being actively digitized, and the use of instant payments between business and government (B2G) can become one of the drivers of reducing administrative costs. Here, a niche also opens up for IT outsourcers from Kazakhstan and Central Asia, who can supply ready-made solutions and integration modules.

In the UAE and Turkey, where the fintech and e-commerce market is more mature, demand for instant B2B settlements has already formed in the travel, hospitality, and cross-border trade sectors. Kazakh companies, including teams like Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz), have the opportunity to enter these markets with specific competencies: integrating banking APIs, building risk monitoring systems, and developing adapters for popular ERP and billing platforms. For regional investors, this is a signal that Central Asia is no longer just a consumer of fintech technologies and is starting to export payment solutions.

At the level of international trade, the emergence of instant payments within Kazakhstan creates the prerequisites for the following steps: cross-border instant transfers between banks in the region with real-time currency conversion. This is critical for businesses operating simultaneously in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the UAE, and Turkey. Companies that first build an architecture for working with instant payments will be able to adapt more quickly to the emergence of such services in a cross-border format.

What Businesses Should Do Now: Practical Steps for Transitioning to Instant Payments

For Kazakh and regional companies, the launch of the pilot by Kaspi means that the transition to instant B2B payments is moving from theory to practice. The first thing businesses need to do, especially in e-commerce and distributed retail, is to audit their settlement processes. It is important to determine which types of payments (suppliers, logistics, rent, merchant payments) are critical in terms of speed and which can remain in the classic mode. According to consultants, usually 20-30 percent of a company's payments create up to 70 percent of the effect from accelerating cash flow.

The second step is to assess the IT infrastructure. Instant payments require ERP, CRM, and accounting to be linked to the bank via API rather than manual payment export. This includes setting up webhooks, automatically updating payment statuses, and integrating with internal approval systems. Such integrations are rarely done by the internal IT team alone: external partners are already in demand in the market. Companies like Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz) offer ready-made connectors to banks and support projects from audit to launch and accounting training.

The third block is risk and regulation management. Businesses need to set limits on amounts and counterparties, implement multi-factor authentication for key payments, separate responsibility zones between accounting, finance, and IT. Practice shows that implementing basic control procedures can reduce operational incidents by more than 50 percent when switching to faster settlements. At the same time, it is necessary to review contracts with key suppliers and partners: instant payments can be a strong argument for negotiating discounts or better supply conditions.

Finally, it is necessary to consider the strategic effect. Companies that manage to adapt to instant payments in 2026 and build a flexible IT architecture will be better prepared for future changes in the regional payment infrastructure. This applies not only to Kaspi but also to other banks and fintech platforms, which, according to market expectations, will introduce their own solutions in the instant payment sphere for business in the next 12-18 months.

Что это значит для Казахстана

For Kazakhstan and the entire Central Asian region, the launch of the Kaspi instant B2B payment pilot is a signal that fintech competition is reaching a new level. The Kazakh market has more than 300 thousand small and medium-sized businesses operating in online trade and services, and they will be the first beneficiaries of accelerated settlements. Accelerating cash flow by 20-30 percent can add hundreds of billions of tenge to the sector's total turnover in 1-2 years.

For Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and other CA countries, Kaspi's experience is important as a practical case study for scaling instant payments to the B2B level under high load. Regional banks and fintech startups will be able to design their solutions faster, guided by real figures on limits, credit periods, and commission levels. This creates an opportunity window for IT outsourcers and integrators from Kazakhstan: companies like Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz) already work with clients in several countries and can export expertise in integrating banking APIs, billing, and risk management systems.

For investors and corporate clients from the UAE and Turkey, what is happening in Kazakhstan shows that the region is ready for cross-border payment pilots and joint fintech projects. In the context of growing electronic commerce between the countries of the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, the availability of fast and predictable B2B settlements becomes a critical competitive factor.

About 200 companies participate in the Kaspi instant B2B payment pilot with a limit of up to 300 million tenge per transaction and a credit period of up to 10 seconds.

The emergence of instant B2B payments from Kaspi changes the rules of the game for e-commerce and related industries in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Businesses get the opportunity to accelerate cash flow and rebuild financial growth models, but at the same time, they face new requirements for IT infrastructure and risk management. Companies that invest in integrating with banking APIs and restructuring internal processes in 2026 will be able to take advantage of the 'first move' in the market. For IT contractors and fintech startups, this opens up a whole layer of new services - from anti-fraud solutions to cross-border instant payments.

Часто задаваемые вопросы

What are Kaspi's Instant B2B Payments for Business?

Kaspi's Instant B2B Payments is a service that allows companies to transfer money to counterparties with crediting in an average of 5-10 seconds instead of the usual T+1 or T+2 days. About 200 companies participate in the pilot with a single transaction limit of up to 300 million tenge and daily limits of up to 1-1.5 billion tenge. The commission currently ranges from 0.1 to 0.25 percent of the payment amount, which is lower than many standard RDO rates. The service is aimed at e-commerce, marketplaces, and businesses with high transaction activity.

When does it make sense for a business to switch to instant payments?

Switching to instant payments is especially justified if the company operates in e-commerce, retail, logistics, or other sectors with high product turnover and sensitivity to cash gaps. Practice shows that if at least 20-30 percent of payments are critical in terms of speed, the instant format can significantly improve cash flow within 1-2 quarters. It also makes sense to switch to instant payments when negotiating with suppliers for discounts in exchange for faster settlements. For businesses with rare large payments, the effect will be less, but here predictability and convenience of settlements are important.

What are the risks of instant B2B payments and how to reduce them?

The main risks are related to increased fraud and operational errors: payments are made in seconds, and there is almost no time for manual verification. International experience shows a 40-60 percent increase in fraud attempts in the first year after launching instant payments without strengthening controls. To reduce risks, companies need to implement limits on amounts and counterparties, multi-factor confirmation for large transactions, and automatic counterparty checks and anomaly monitoring. Specialized integrators, such as Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz), help solve these tasks by developing anti-fraud modules and integrating with ERP and accounting.

How long does it take to implement instant payments in a company?

A typical project for transitioning to instant B2B payments with ERP and accounting integration takes 4 to 12 weeks, depending on the scale and complexity of the IT landscape. Technical integration with bank APIs, setting up webhooks, and automatic payment status updates usually takes 2-4 weeks. Another 2-6 weeks are needed for adapting internal regulations, training employees, and testing in a limited mode. When working with an experienced integrator like Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz), deadlines can be optimized by using ready-made connectors and integration templates.

How can a business save on commissions when using instant payments?

Savings are achieved through two factors: lower per transaction commission and faster cash flow, which reduces the need for credit. With current rates of 0.1-0.25 percent for instant payments versus 0.3-0.5 percent in traditional RDO schemes, businesses can reduce direct transaction costs by tens of percent. Additionally, companies can negotiate discounts with suppliers at the level of 2-5 percent in exchange for instant settlements instead of 30-45 day deferrals. External consultants and integrators, such as Alashed IT (it.alashed.kz), help optimize payment structures and select favorable rates.

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