Aibek Kaiyp: Jusan Bank’s CEO Champions Change, Hits New Heights in Service Provision

First Heartland Jusan Bank, one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan, is developing its ecosystem to go beyond traditional services.

At the helm in this period of transition is Aibek Kaiyp, CEO and chairman of the bank’s management board. His career with Jusan financial group began in 2018, when he headed First Heartland Capital, an investment management company in the First Heartland Group.

In 2019, First Heartland acquired 99.5 percent of Tsesnabank shares and changed its name to Jusan Bank. That same year, Aibek was appointed deputy chairman of the Jusan Bank management board, supervising non-performing debts.

The area was one of the highest priorities for Jusan; non-performing loans in the portfolio inherited from Tsesnabank JSC amounted to 850 billion tenge ($2.2bn) — more than 90 percent of the bank’s assets.

“I headed the recovery of distressed assets,” Kaiyp recalls. “We singled out the companies that failed in their obligations.” Jusan played hardball with defaulters. “Each of the problem borrowers had their own reasons, problems, and claims. Each case was worked out not just individually, but literally manually,” Kaiyp says.

Very soon, consistent and systematic work brought the desired results. During 2019 and 2020, the bank recovered a large amount of assets considered non-performing. “Many borrowers took the decision to repay the loans properly,” says Kaiyp. “That was a period of challenges”.

By the end of 2019, Kaiyp had become the chairman of Jusan Bank’s management board. With a new team of top managers, he implemented what has become a successful development strategy.

This is evidenced by financial and business indicators based on the strategy being implemented in stages. “We focused on global trends of deep transformation of the financial market and their integration into Kazakhstan,” the CEO says. “Analysing various development scenarios, we placed a bet on creating a new ecosystem based on three business platforms: Jusan Retail, Jusan Business and Jusan Private Banking.

“This was so that each of our clients could solve their financial problems and tasks using the Jusan mobile app. In 2020, we implemented several significant projects for the bank at the same time. We relaunched the Jusan Internet banking and mobile apps for retail customers, and Jusan Business for SMEs. We also launched the Jusan Marketplace — a store with a wide range of goods and services — and Jusan Mobile, a virtual mobile operator, in partnership with one of the largest local operators.”

Under Kaiyp’s leadership, Jusan Bank has completed the independent asset quality review (AQR) by the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan — and confirmed the quality of its assets and compliance with all Kazakhstan and international standards. The development of the digital ecosystem was timely, and allowed the bank to transfer products online and direct customer service to remote channels.

And this was happening in troubled 2020, under the shadow of the pandemic and the challenges of quarantine. Every effort was taken to minimise risk for customers and employees.

As 2021 approaches its close, Jusan Bank and its team reflect on an eventful period. The most significant events include the completion of merger with Kazakhstan’s ATFBank, which Jusan purchased at the end of last year, and the acquisition of a stake in Kazakhstan’s leading mobile operator, Kcell.

Before joining Jusan, Kaiyp worked with HSBC in Almaty as an analyst of the global banking division. He later joined the Kazakhstan branch of the largest Russian bank, Sberbank.

Aibek Kaiyp is a representative of a new generation of managers trained by the international educational programme Bolashak, established 28 years ago by former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. It has become recognised as one of the most important management training initiatives in the country.