Freedom Holding’s Turkish Bank Acquisition Valued at $33.4 Million

Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding Corp., led by billionaire Timur Turlov, paid $33.4 million for a 99.32% stake in Turkish Bank A.Ş.

The deal marks another step in Freedom’s international expansion and comes as the group reports a strong start to fiscal 2027: the group’s quarterly revenue rose 40% to $732.5 million. Growth in its banking and brokerage businesses is strengthening Freedom’s capacity to bring the digital ecosystem it built in Kazakhstan to new markets. Timur Turlov himself is setting the bar even higher: in his view, digital banks will eventually have to compete not so much with local players as with global technology platforms.

$33.4 Million for a Banking Platform in Türkiye

The purchase price for Turkish Bank was disclosed in Freedom Holding’s financial statements. The group paid $33.4 million for a stake of approximately 99.32%, Forbes reported, citing the holding company’s financial statements. The transaction closed on July 31, 2026, after which shareholders approved renaming Turkish Bank A.Ş. as Freedom Bank A.Ş., according to a Freedom Holding announcement.

For Freedom Holding Corp., the acquisition is not simply a purchase of an operating banking asset; it also provides a foundation for launching its ecosystem model in Türkiye. The company intends to build an ecosystem of financial and everyday services around the bank.

“In Kazakhstan, we built an ecosystem in which financial and everyday services operate within a single SuperApp, which has become the fastest-growing digital service in the country. Now we are bringing this model to Türkiye,” Turlov said after the transaction closed.

Even before the acquisition was completed, Timur Turlov noted that the potential customer base in Türkiye could be four to five times larger than in Kazakhstan. At the time, Freedom SuperApp had attracted 5.67 million users less than two years after its launch,the company reported.

Revenue Rose 40%

Freedom Holding’s financial results support its expansion plans. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, which ended June 30, 2026, Freedom Holding’s net revenue increased 40% year over year, from $524 million to $732.5 million. Assets reached $14.05 billion, up from $13.16 billion at the end of March.

Its two core financial businesses were the main drivers of growth. Revenue in the brokerage segment increased 60% to $282.6 million, while banking revenue rose 54% to $225.2 million. The Other segment, which includes telecommunications, payments, travel and other digital services, doubled its revenue to $73.9 million.

The customer base also expanded. The banking business served 5.45 million customers, the brokerage business 874,000, the insurance business 924,000, and the remaining businesses 1.5 million.

From France and Georgia to Pakistan and Mongolia

The next stage of Freedom’s international expansion is already taking shape. Freedom Holding has applied for a banking license in France and has said it is prepared to invest about €500 million in the country’s digital ecosystem. In Georgia, the company is awaiting completion of the licensing process for Freedom Bank Georgia.

In Pakistan, Timur Turlov has spoken about plans to begin the process of registering a Freedom Bank branch and, in the longer term, to build a global digital bank with an eventual presence in the United States (Kapital.kz). In Mongolia, the holding company is exploring investment opportunities in the banking and financial sectors, Interfax reported. Reuters previously described Freedom’s strategy as an expansion of financial infrastructure across a region stretching from Türkiye to Mongolia.

For Timur Turlov, however, the goal is to deploy a common technology platform across markets.

“I don’t want to build a holding company that has the same name in every country but different businesses. That would not create the synergy we are aiming for. That’s why I want the Freedom SuperApp we built in Kazakhstan to appear in other countries, so that we can fully export our technology to the markets of Türkiye, Pakistan, Europe and Georgia,” Turlov told.

According to Timur Turlov, the team is working to turn Freedom Holding’s banking system, card processing, accounting solutions and loyalty programs into a modular technology product that can be used in a new market and then adapted to local regulatory requirements. For Turlov, the ability to replicate the same technology across markets is ultimately what could allow Freedom to compete on a global rather than local scale.

The Real Competition Will Be Global Technology Platforms

By this logic, the main competition facing digital banks will come not from the bank next door but from global technology platforms.

“Google is used all over the world, and 70-80% of all AI inference is handled by one or two companies. I am sure the same thing will happen in digital banking. People will use the best technology on a global scale. Nobody will need the best bank in Kazakhstan; they will need the best bank in the world,” Timur Turlov commented.

Technology markets tend to follow a winner-takes-all dynamic, and a digital bank therefore needs to become global. Within this strategy, the $33.4 million acquisition of Turkish Bank looks modest relative to Freedom Holding’s $14.05 billion asset base but strategically significant. Freedom Holding Corp. has gained a regulated banking platform in Türkiye and an opportunity to test whether its SuperApp model, developed in Kazakhstan, can scale successfully beyond its home market. Meanwhile, the 40% increase in quarterly revenue and the expansion of its customer base provide the holding company with the financial and operational foundation for the next stage of its international expansion.