Freedom Holding Corp. has completed one of the largest steps in its international expansion strategy, closing the acquisition of a controlling stake in Turkish Bank A.Ş. The transaction reflects a broader fintech trend: digital financial companies are increasingly moving into banking to gain control over funding, infrastructure and the full customer journey, while building regulated platforms across multiple markets.
From Turkish Bank to Freedom Bank
Freedom Finansal Hizmetler A.Ş. – a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp., a NASDAQ-listed international fintech group operating in more than 20 countries – completed the transfer of 99.32% of the bank’s share capital from Özyol Holding A.Ş. and National Bank of Kuwait. Following the completion of the transaction, the bank’s shareholders appointed a new Board of Directors and voted to rename the bank Freedom Bank A.Ş. The name change has been submitted to the Turkish Trade Registry for registration.
The transaction concludesa process that began in March, when Freedom announced its agreement to acquire Turkish Bank, subject to regulatory approvals. On July 1, the company received clearance from Türkiye’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) and the Turkish Competition Authority, allowing the acquisition to proceed.
For Freedom Holding Corp., the acquisition is about much more than adding another financial institution to its portfolio. The bank will serve as the foundation for the company’s long-term expansion in Türkiye, where it plans to replicate the integrated financial ecosystem, it has already built in Kazakhstan.
“In Kazakhstan, we have built an ecosystem in which financial and everyday services operate within a single SuperApp, which has become the country’s fastest-growing digital service. We are now bringing this model to Türkiye, where customers already have high expectations of their banks, setting a high bar for us,” Timur Turlov, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Holding Corp., said.
According to Turlov, Freedom’s task in the coming years is to strengthen the bank’s capital and technological capabilities so that the ecosystem can grow rapidly around it. Earlier, he announced plans to invest around $300 million to reach this goal.
A Small Bank with Strategic Value
Turkish Bank’s main business areas include corporate, commercial, retail, and private banking services, as well as project financing and fund management. Measured by assets, Turkish Bank A.Ş. is a relatively small player in Türkiye’s banking sector. According to the bank’s interim financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2026, filed through Türkiye’s Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) – the country’s official electronic disclosure system for companies and regulated financial institutions — Turkish Bank reported TRY 8.16 billion in total assets, TRY 5.84 billion in deposits, and TRY 949 million in shareholders’ equity. The interim financial report was published on KAP on July 17, 2026, and was subject to a limited review by KPMG. The bank’s scale is also reflected in industry rankings published by the Banks Association of Türkiye (TBB). As of the end of 2025, it ranked 46th out of 58 banks by total assets (in USD), according to TBB.
Viewed through the lens of scale, the acquisition may appear modest. But size is not the primary rationale behind the acquisition. Strategically, however, the transaction offers something far more valuable than market share: an existing banking license, operating infrastructure, regulatory relationships and an established banking platform in one of the region’s largest financial markets with a population approaching 90 million.
The acquisition of Turkish Bank is only one component of Freedom’s strategy in the country. The holding has also established Freedom Yatırım Menkul Değerler A.Ş., after receiving approval from the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (SPK) to create a brokerage company. Brokerage and banking are expected to complement one another as Freedom expands its capital markets offering in Türkiye. Taken together, they will become the foundation for a broader financial platform serving retail, affluent and corporate clients.
Why Fintechs Want Banking Licenses
Freedom Holding’s move also reflects a broader shift across the fintech industry. After years of building businesses around individual products such as payments, brokerage, digital wallets or lending, many fintech companies are moving toward more comprehensive, regulated financial models.
As McKinsey stresses in its recent report“The next age of fintech: AI, digital assets, and new paths to success”, one of the trends that will shape the future of fintech is that “fintechs are increasingly viewing banking licenses not as constraints but as strategic tools to unlock cheaper funding, enable expansion opportunities, enhance trust with customers, and reinforce their moats”. According to the report, in 2025, 21 fintechs applied for banking charters in the United States, more than in the previous four years combined. This could further reinforce the market bifurcation between the largest-scale fintechs with licenses and the rest and potentially reduce a key moat for incumbent financial institutions, McKinsey concludes.
A banking license does not simply allow companies to offer services that are otherwise unavailable. Many fintech firms already provide payments, lending, or investment products through specialized licenses or partnerships with traditional banks. However, becoming a regulated bank allows them to bring more parts of the financial value chain under their own control. This includes direct access to deposits, the ability to fund lending through their own balance sheet, where permitted by regulation, and the opportunity to combine multiple financial products – such as payments, savings, credit and investments – within a single regulated platform. A banking license can also reduce reliance on partner banks for core infrastructure, funding and compliance functions, giving companies greater control over product development and customer experience.
The move toward banking licenses is gaining momentum among major fintech and digital finance companies: in December 2025, PayPal applied for a banking charter in Utah to launch PayPal Bank, while in April 2026 Coinbase received conditional approval from U.S. regulators for certain banking activities, following similar steps by companies including Paxos, Ripple Labs and Circle Internet Group. Revolut has also expanded beyond its original fintech model, receiving a full UK banking license in March 2026 and applying for a U.S. banking license.
Building Beyond Türkiye
The acquisition of Turkish Bank is part of Freedom’s broader strategy to deploy its ecosystem in strategic markets, starting with financial services. The group has already begun applying this model in Tajikistan, where Freedom launched Freedom Bank TJ as a digitally focused retail and commercial bank. The bank received its banking license from the National Bank of Tajikistan in October 2024. It was created to extend Freedom’s fintech ecosystem into the local market, with products including accounts, payment cards, money transfers and lending services.
In June 2026, the holding applied for a banking license in France, with the application process being reviewed under the country’s banking supervision framework overseen by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR). It will add one more segment of Freedom’s ecosystem to its existing brokerage business in Europe.
In addition, Freedom Holding Corp. is taking steps to establish a bank in Georgia, which is subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals, as it stated in its annual report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026. Beyond these markets, the group has identified further expansion opportunities across Eurasia, including Mongolia and Pakistan.
