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How to launch your own online payment acceptance service in Central Asia: a step-by-step guide for startups (Part 1)

Online payments in Central Asia and the Caucasus are in an active growth phase. In Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia are rapidly developing e-commerce, mobile wallets and digital banks. This makes launching your own payment service (PSP) not only relevant, but also a promising area for startups.

  • Market eCommerce in Kazakhstan exceeded $5.3 billion (2023, PwC).
  • The e-commerce market in Uzbekistan has already exceeded $1 billion and continues to grow.
  • Kyrgyzstan is expected to grow to $595 million by 2028.
  • The share of non-cash payments is actively growing in the countries of the region and there are local payment ecosystems.

Creating a PSP is not just an IT project, it is a full-fledged financial business. It's important to understand right away:

  1. What kind Do I support payment methods?
  2. Which Should I choose a business model (aggregator or processing)?
  3. What kind Do regulatory requirements need to be taken into account?
  4. Develop start from scratch or rent a ready-made white-label solution?

Today we will focus on the first question.

Here is an overview of the most popular payment methods by country.:

Kazakhstan:

  • Bank accounts Cards: VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay
  • Mobile wallets: Apple Pay, GPay, Samsung Pay
  • Local Systems: Wooppay, Kassa24, YurtaPay

Uzbekistan:

  • Cards: Uzcard, Humo
  • Online wallets: Click, Payme, Apelsin
  • Planned launch of PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay (Resolution dated 02.10.2024)

Kyrgyzstan:

  • Cards: VISA, MasterCard, ELCARD
  • Wallets: Elsom, Umai

Tajikistan:

  • Cards: VISA, MasterCard
  • Local: Alif Pay, Corti Milli

Azerbaijan and Georgia:

  • Cards international systems
  • Bank accounts applications and eManat
  • Apple Pay and Google Pay are available and actively used

If you are a startup or a new PSP, it is expensive and time—consuming to launch a platform from scratch. One of the optimal ways is to use a PCI DSS certified white—label payment platform that is already integrated with popular payment methods.

In the following materials, we will analyze in detail:

  • The difference between the processing model and the aggregator
  • Choice software platform
  • Preparation towards PCI DSS certification

Read the full original blog article. ecomcharge.kz

The material is based on the practical experience of the eComCharge team. Our beGateway white-label platform is already used by dozens of PSPs in Europe, the CIS and Central Asia.

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Oksana Mikhailovskaya

May 29, 2025 11:07

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