The “Banks of the Future” Conference, co-organized by EUROUZ, ASEE, and PLATMA, brought together over 100 participants in a hybrid format uniting leading representatives of the banking, fintech, and technology sectors for a high-level discussion on the transformation of financial services and digital ecosystems in Central Asia.
Hosted at Hilton Tashkent City, the event gathered industry experts, regulators, and innovators to explore how digital banking, fintech integration, and emerging technologies are reshaping financial systems in Uzbekistan and the wider region.
The conference opened with welcoming remarks from Ketevan Antidze, EUROUZ Board Member and Commerzbank AG Representative Office Director in Tashkent, Rino Miletic, Business Development Manager at ASEE, and Yaroslav Kologryvov, Co-founder of PLATMA. The speakers emphasized the importance of enhancing cross-sector cooperation, supporting financial digitalization, and strengthening the technological foundations of Uzbekistan’s banking sector.
A keynote speech was delivered by Sarvarbek Sadullaev, Director of the AI Department at the Ministry of Digital Technologies, who presented Uzbekistan’s ambition to position itself as a regional IT hub. He outlined the government’s efforts to modernize digital infrastructure, promote fintech innovation, and develop regulatory frameworks enabling new financial technologies to flourish.
This was followed by insights from Yaroslav Kologryvov, who introduced the concept of Bank 6.0 — a transition from traditional banking towards intelligent, fully digital ecosystems driven by automation, advanced analytics, and customer-centric design. Vera Bell, Managing Partner at Crowe Uzbekistan, shared perspectives on how banks can adapt their operational and compliance models to support this transition efficiently and sustainably.
The next part of the event showcased a series of success stories demonstrating how modern technologies are already transforming banking operations. Krešimir Šuljak, Sales Director for International Markets at ASEE, presented ASEE’s solutions to support SMEs through digital origination and highlighted several practical tools that improve service delivery and operational efficiency. Timur Norov, Chief Business Director at SQB Bank, discussed how SME-focused digital products can accelerate economic growth. Rino Miletic and Krešimir Šuljak further demonstrated no-code platforms, composable digital services, and omnichannel customer experience solutions that help banks respond quickly to customer needs and changing market conditions.
The discussion then expanded to perspectives from leading financial institutions on how banks are integrating new technologies and developing non-traditional financial services. Executives from Kapitalbank, TBC Bank Uzbekistan, Ipak Yuli Bank, and Paynet shared practical insights on cooperation between banks and fintech companies, the development of non-banking services, tailored payment card products, and emerging business cases involving digital assets such as crypto and gold on financial platforms. Speakers emphasized that customer expectations, market competition, and the rapid development of fintech ecosystems are driving banks to adopt more flexible, data-driven business models.
Further contributions came from regional and international experts focusing on digital transformation strategies, tokenization, and the growing role of fintech startups. Representatives of ASEE Croatia, PLATMA, Lockton Finance, Bakksy, and SQB Ventures discussed how new technologies can enhance operational intelligence, create hybrid financial products, expand access to investments, and contribute to a more dynamic and innovative financial market. The discussion underscored the importance of collaboration between large financial institutions and emerging fintech players to drive sustainable innovation.
The event also featured a presentation of the hackathon winners, showcasing innovative solutions developed within the conference’s innovation track, and included a key highlight, the official signing ceremony between PLATMA and ASEE, through which PLATMA became the strategic partner and exclusive reseller of ASEE products in Uzbekistan, marking a major step toward expanding digital transformation capabilities in the country’s financial sector; additionally, SQB Ventures and PLATMA announced a joint acceleration program to further support the development of innovative startups and technological solutions.
“Traditional banks that seek innovation often turn to startups, investing in their ideas and nurturing them in isolated “sandboxes.” However, many of these innovations never make it to full implementation because of the lack of experience to manage integration within complex operational environments. A more effective approach is for banks to continue recognizing the creativity and innovative potential of startups, but to also engage proven partners who can ensure that these ideas are successfully transformed into production-ready solutions. For decades, ASEE has been a trusted partner to leading banks across Europe, helping them bring innovative concepts to life. With our proven solutions, we can support banks in Uzbekistan to successfully market SME loans, build excellent client communication through a unified digital platform, and through the partnership with Platma, which develops data-driven solutions for the SME segment, we are even more ready to respond to the needs of the banks of the future,” said Igor Grzalja, President of the Management Board, ASEE Croatia.
EUROUZ, the Europe-Uzbekistan Association for Economic Cooperation, is an international business association & a European Chamber of Commerce in Uzbekistan, working to provide comprehensive support to its members to understand their target market, build more robust business networks & enable a better dialogue with both public & private stakeholders. EUROUZ is a recognized European non-profit, non-commercial association with headquarters in Brussels & a full official branch office in Tashkent. Its members fully fund EUROUZ through membership fees.
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ASEE is part of the ASEE Group, a member of Asseco. The mission of ASEE Group is to build a trustworthy and profitable global IT company providing customers with high-quality software and services. With more than 4,200 dedicated employees in the region, the Group operates in 24 countries, covering a market of 606 million people. The company excels in delivering innovative solutions for banking, payments, public administration, telecoms, and utilities, focusing on digitalization and security to create value for its clients.
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