Astana, 9 November. Compulsory insurance of homes against earthquakes, floods and forest fires will first be piloted in three regions: it is one of the initiatives of the 2026–2030 programme approved by the National Bank and the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM), the agency said.
The Insurance Market Development Programme for 2026–2030 was approved on 30 October by a joint resolution of the boards of the agency and the National Bank; the agency announced it on 9 November. The document was drawn up to carry out an instruction the President gave at an expanded Government meeting on 10 February 2026. It consists of 18 initiatives in six areas, and 12 of them are to be written into the draft of a new Law "On the Insurance Market", which is due to be submitted to the Kurultai before the end of the year.
The starting point is market figures. Over the past five years the assets of insurance organisations have grown from 1.8 trillion to 3.9 trillion tenge. Insurance premiums rose from 815 billion to 1.9 trillion tenge (by the agency's count, 2.4 times), and insurance payouts from 127 billion to 461 billion tenge, 3.6 times. Comparing the stated figures, the share of payouts in premiums has risen from about 16% to 24%. Insurers' assets remain about 2.7% of GDP, which the agency sees as room for growth.
The most visible part for citizens is home insurance. The programme provides for a single regulatory regime for eight compulsory classes and ten "imputed" types of insurance and introduces a new compulsory class: insurance of homes against earthquakes, floods and forest fires. It is to be introduced in stages: after a deferral period, as a pilot in three regions, then in 16 regions exposed to catastrophic risks. Which three regions will be chosen, when the pilot starts, how much a policy will cost and who will pay for it, the agency has not said. Later, expansion to medical insurance for foreign tourists, agricultural insurance, insurance of property against fire and liability for certain business risks to consumers will be considered.
For voluntary insurance the programme envisages pension annuities: guaranteed, investment-linked and hybrid. An annuity is a contract under which an insurer, in exchange for an accumulated sum, pays a person regular money, usually for life. The agency sees voluntary medical insurance as a supplement to compulsory social medical insurance (OSMS).
A separate block concerns intermediaries. Insurance brokers will develop independent advice, while insurance agents will be able to work with several insurers and sell compulsory insurance products, but the requirements for their training and annual confirmation of qualifications will be tightened. Informal intermediaries who help with settling insurance claims are to be put in order: entered in a special register, required to disclose commission and monitored for unfair practices. Insurance marketplaces, online platforms where offers from different companies can be compared, will also develop.
The digital part includes electronic signing of voluntary insurance contracts, online settlement of claims and an expanded Unified Insurance Database: all compulsory insurance contracts will get numbers, and the database itself will help fight insurance fraud. Clients are promised an "open digital environment" in which they manage the transfer of their insurance data themselves. A Central Actuary (a specialist who calculates insurance tariffs and reserves) and a Centre for Insurance Competence Development will appear.
For small and medium-sized business the programme provides new ways to cover risks that could halt operations. It also plans to develop insurance based on Islamic finance principles: "Islamic windows" (units of insurers offering such products) and takaful, a form of mutual insurance in which participants jointly cover each other's losses. Insurers are also to become institutional investors, that is, a source of long-term money for the economy.
In addition, the programme makes it easier for branches of foreign insurers and reinsurers to enter the market. In assessing them, regulators will look first at financial stability, credit rating and the possibility of information exchange between supervisors, and procedures will be simplified for reliable companies with high ratings. At the same time the agency will improve reinsurance policy, the system of guaranteeing insurance payouts and supervision under the principles of Solvency II, the European system of solvency requirements for insurers that has applied in the European Union since 2016.
What it means: The state has described how it intends to turn insurance from a set of compulsory policies into an ordinary protection for family and business: a new compulsory policy on a home, a phased launch, more transparent intermediaries and digital contracts. What the document, as described by the agency, lacks most is deadlines and price: so far only the number of pilot regions has been named.
Who benefits: According to the agency, citizens and entrepreneurs: insurance should help a family cope with unexpected expenses and keep its home and savings, and help a business keep working when serious risks occur. The programme gives insurance agents the right to work with several companies and foreign insurers an easier route into the Kazakh market. What current insurers will get, and what a compulsory policy will cost homeowners, the agency does not say.
Background: Kazakhstan's insurance market has grown over five years, but at about 2.7% of GDP in assets it remains small: this is what the agency names as the main reserve for growth. The authorities are also putting insurance intermediation in order now: we wrote on 3 November about the requirement for agents to state their commission in the policy.
We have also reported on insurance agents having to state their commission in the policy.
