In 2022, Uzbek labour migrants sent home $16.7 billion in remittances, equivalent to 21% of Uzbekistan’s GDP. In the first half of 2024, remittances already accounted for 14% of GDP. For Uzbekistan’s economy, the functioning of reliable and secure fintech systems enabling both domestic and international payments is crucial. Uzbekistan would face immediate collapse if anything were to go wrong with this financial lifeline.
That is precisely why Humo, the country’s most prominent payment processor, was established. In September 2018 a major software failure struck then-only processing centre, Uzcard. That was a close call for the government and Humo was created as an independent, safe and secure payment processor, integrated with the national banking system. Humo is is licensed by the National Bank of Uzbekistan and operated by the National Interbank Processing Centre LLC. It is state company and now Humo is mature and is ripe for privatization. The state’s 100% share in Humo has been already transferred to the State Assets Management Agency (UzSAMA), and the system is being prepared for public auction.
With over 27 million Humo cards issued, more than 210,000 points of sale, and around 6,400 ATMs across the country, Humo is definitely an attractive company to grab. Expert evaluations suggest a minimum valuation of Humo between $60 million and $80 million, aligning closely with its potential market value.
Humo’s performance shows continued growth amid privatization news. According to the Unified Corporate Information Portal, the company reported net profit of 119 billion sums in Q3, up 42.5% year-on-year, with revenues increasing by 44.7% to 222 billion sums. The privatization aims to position the payment system for expansion into regional markets, fostering modern fintech technologies and broadening its business model.
Local, Central Asian, and international buyers prepared the bids
Deloitte, the transaction’s consulting firm, assessed the bids and confirmed that all six contenders met the established criteria, recommending them for consideration in the bidding process. This recommendation was approved by Uzbekistan’s State Commission on Privatization.
The British public limited company Gemcorp Capital Management Limited (GCML), founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, was expected to be a frontrunner. Specialising in investments across emerging markets in Asia and Africa, GCML manages assets worth approximately $1 billion. Its founder and CEO, Atanas Bostandjiev, formerly a partner at Goldman Sachs and head of VTB Capital, launched the company with an initial backing of $250 million from Albert Avdolyan and Sergey Adonyev, who exited in 2020 and 2017, respectively. The board features prominent figures, including Gerry Grimstone, a former UK Minister for Investment, and Edward Lister, former chief of staff to PM Boris Johnson.
Kazakhstan’s Kaspi Bank (one of the biggest bank of Central Asia with modern banking technologies), backed by BlackRock, and the UK’s public limited company Gemcorp Capital Management Limited (GCML) have withdrawn from the tender for the sale of 100% of Uzbekistan’s Humo payment system.
Some sources among British investors said TalkFinace correspondent that there is assertion that actions by officials overseeing the tender process have caused Uzbekistan to miss an opportunity to enhance its payment infrastructure and banking technology with the involvement of leading global fintech firms.
Suddenly, the international heavyweights were excluded from the bidding. Talk Finance correspondent found that of the initial more than six participants required to submit binding offers and a guarantee of at least 1% of the proposed purchase price, only one remains. According to sources, regulatory changes made just a week before the third stage of the tender effectively disqualified foreign bidders.
Shadow of Dmitry Li`s NAPP over privatization
Only one bidder remains. It’s Paynet, the operator of the Uzbek payment service, is owned by Uzpaynet, which itself is fully controlled by New Industrial Technologies. This company completed the acquisition of the payment system from the Agency for State Asset Management in April 2024, under the Uzbekistan’s National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP). The current tender for Humo’s privatization is also under the agency’s oversight.
New Industrial Technologies LLC, founded in April 2019, holds a charter capital of 273.56 billion sums. The firm’s principal stakeholders include Alex Lee, an international citizen with a 60% share (the sole founder in June), and Mustafa Abdurakhmanov, who controls 40% and also owns 77.6% of Asia Alliance Group, the majority shareholder of Asia Alliance Bank.
As the head of NAPP, Dmitry Li has been instrumental in several key events. One of his notable contributions is in the development of Uzbekistan’s cryptocurrency sector. He played a crucial role in granting KOBEA Group LLC, a Korean company, an unlimited license to operate the UzNex cryptocurrency exchange, which is Uzbekistan’s first and currently only digital trading platform. The newly launched cryptocurrency exchange is already embroiled in scandal.
Under the auspices of some high-ranked officials of National agency of perspective project (NAPP), UzNext has been instrumental in a murky money laundering scheme
It was a collapsed high-risk payments network to launder gambling and betting money. The operation of the network was organized as follows: betting companies, either directly or through payment services, transferred funds to the Kapital Bank, Ipak Yuli, and Ravnaq (Octobank). These funds were then sent to an exchange, and after deducting a commission, were converted to Tether and sent to the clients. The entire process was overseen by National agency of perspective project.
From the outset, the process was poorly structured in terms of settlements, exchange rate reconciliation, and payment frequency. Over time, delays in payments, fund freezes, and unjustified fines began to occur—citing stagnation of funds on the UzNext exchange or other platforms as reasons.
All individuals involved in this network are convinced that this is a fraudulent group led, presumably, by group of NAPP officials, who exploited his official position in Uzbekistan, employing influence on third-party payment systems. With the help of authorities, particularly the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this group managed to drive competing payment systems out of Uzbekistan, thereby creating a monopoly on servicing high-risk money transfers. The technical implementation of the project is attributed to the PayCrypto service, represented by a certain Andrey Oshchipkov, while the overseer, according to local investigations, of this operation is Dmitry Li, who heads the NAPP of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Why was the auction of Humo mishandled by NAPP head?
The rapid change in the criteria for eligible bidders followed an inquiry in the European Parliament regarding the situation surrounding Uzbekistan’s Oktobank. MEP Adrian-George Axinia formally requested the European Commission to investigate Octobank’s involvement in circumventing sanctions against Russia.
Axinia highlighted that Octobank holds a monopolistic position in Uzbekistan’s cross-border financial services, including money transfers and P2P payments. He urged the Commission to examine the bank’s role in ensuring compliance with sanctions against Russia, raising the following questions:
- What measures is the Commission taking to monitor and prevent sanction evasion through such financial mechanisms?
- Is the Commission aware of the circumstances involving Octobank, and what actions are being taken to mitigate the negative impact of these activities on the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia?
Octobank – Dmitry Li link
Axinia emphasised that Octobank is controlled by the National Agency for Perspective Projects led by Dmitry Li has played a key role in facilitating sanction circumvention and enabling the outflow and laundering of Russian money. And then it suddenly turns out that Octobank actively processes payments from Russian banks such as Promsvyazbank, Gazprombank, VTB, MTS Bank, MIN Bank, and Russian Standard Bank.
In his letter to the European Commission, the MEP also highlights Octobank’s connection with China. Since last year, the bank has been a strategic partner of the Chinese online payment system Tenpay. Furthermore, NAPP’s primary role is to develop and implement policies in the field of crypto asset management, with Octobank serving as one of the key operators in this market. Through this bank, a flow of Russian money is bypassing international sanctions.
A clear stance on the operations of structures like Octobank, used for circumventing sanctions, was expressed by Harriet Baldwin, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee of the UK House of Commons. Mrs. Baldwin stated that the longer sanctions are in place, the more ways allegedly emerge to evade them. She also noted that many banks from Central Asian countries actively assist Russia in bypassing sanctions in exchange for modest corrupt income.
It seems that group of high-ranked officials at NAPP firmly established himself as the fintech dominators of Uzbekistan in control of this process. Humo maybe used for this exact reason and therefore independent and international bidders are excluded from the bidding process.
But it is already clear that the future of Uzbek fintech and banking technologies has lost its chance to become a regional leader and enter international markets through innovative technologies from global investors. The only loser in this situation is the average Uzbek consumer.
