In a country where much of the economy is cash based and the failure of the largest bank – Asia Universal Bank in 2010 – remains fresh in the memory, expanding a customer base might seem a challenge for Kyrgyzstan's banks.
But it might also provide an opportunity for growth. As can be seen in our chart, in 2013, for the first time in Kyrgyzstan, nearly half of the country's money supply entered the banking system, and in 2014 the amount outside of banks decreased to 42.73%. This happened as the deposit base of country’s commercial banks grew by 22.57% while their loan books expanded by 45.95%.
