TBC Uzbekistan Launches Secured Lending for SMEs to Fuel Central Asian Business Growth

TBC Uzbekistan has launched its first secured lending product for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through its TBC Business platform. This move marks a significant expansion into the business credit market, offering loans up to approximately USD 1 million. For fintech professionals, it signals the rapid maturation of digital-first banking ecosystems in Central Asia's emerging markets.

What was announced

TBC Uzbekistan, which operates as a digital financial ecosystem, has introduced secured loans for SMEs with a maximum limit of 12 billion Uzbek Soum, equivalent to roughly USD 1 million. This product is integrated into TBC Business, which the company identifies as the first fully-digital business banking solution in the country. The launch responds to a significant uptick in user acquisition, with more than 30,000 SMEs having registered on the platform since its inception.

The lending facility is designed with flexible collateral terms and includes a grace period of up to 12 months. The product is divided into two primary categories: working capital loans, which carry a term of up to 36 months, and financing for investment products, which can extend up to 120 months. This follows a period of rapid iteration for TBC Business; after launching as a web-based service in December 2024, the platform has since introduced a dedicated mobile app and doubled its maximum unsecured loan limit from 300 million Uzbek Soum to 600 million Uzbek Soum.

Beyond credit, the ecosystem has recently incorporated a payroll product that facilitates digital employee payments at any time, including weekends and holidays. The platform also features QR-code payment functionality. To support the broader entrepreneurial environment, TBC Uzbekistan has partnered with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to provide free practical training sessions aimed at strengthening management skills for business owners.

"As businesses grow, entrepreneurs need access to larger loans to help them scale their business and fund longer-term projects, such as expanding production or purchasing equipment and commercial real estate. This new product was built to meet exactly that demand, giving businesses access to the financing needed to reach these larger-scale goals, all while keeping the same simple, fully digital customer journey that defines our products. This ultimately enables business owners to focus on what matters most: growing their companies."

Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC Uzbekistan.

The companies involved

TBC Uzbekistan is a major digital financial player in Central Asia and forms a core part of the TBC Bank Group, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company operates through its website at www.tbcbank.uz and has focused on building a two-sided ecosystem that serves both consumers and business clients. Its market position was significantly bolstered in June 2025 through the acquisition of a majority stake in BILLZ.

BILLZ is a leading retail management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform in Uzbekistan. By integrating BILLZ’s capabilities, TBC Uzbekistan has transformed its business offering into a one-stop-shop that handles both financial transactions and operational retail management. This integration allows the group to offer a more comprehensive suite of tools than traditional banking competitors in the region. TBC Bank Group’s expansion into Uzbekistan represents a strategic move to export its digital banking expertise from its home market in Georgia to the wider Central Asian region, leveraging high mobile penetration and a growing SME sector.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely tracked TBC Uzbekistan’s aggressive expansion into various financial verticals. In July 2026, the company made its first major move into asset-backed credit when TBC Uzbekistan Enters Secured Lending Market with Launch of Digital Car Loans. This was followed by the full-scale rollout of TBC Avto: A 24-Hour Digital Car-Buying Revolution in September 2026.

The company’s growth has also been recognized on a global scale, as TBC Uzbekistan Named Among World’s Top Fintechs by CNBC and Statista for Second Year in mid-2026. Most recently, the firm has focused on its payments infrastructure, as seen when TBC Bank Uzbekistan Scales Digital Ecosystem with 1 Million New UZCARD-Backed Debit Cards, a move that significantly increased its retail footprint.

What this means

The transition from unsecured micro-loans to million-dollar secured lending is a pivotal moment for digital banks in emerging markets. It signals that TBC Uzbekistan is no longer just a "challenger" for retail payments but a direct competitor to traditional commercial banks for high-value corporate accounts. By offering 120-month terms on a digital platform, TBC is putting immense pressure on legacy institutions that still rely on manual, paper-heavy underwriting processes. The integration of SaaS tools like BILLZ suggests the industry is moving toward a "Bank-as-a-Platform" model, where credit is just one feature in a broader business operating system. The primary question remaining is how effectively a digital-first model can manage the physical complexities of collateral valuation at this increased scale.