Artificial intelligence as a strategic factor: fintech development vector in Uzbekistan

On June 26, Tashkent hosted the international conference "KEY TECH: AI in banks and fintech", which demonstrated the maturity and scale of the use of artificial intelligence in the financial industry of Uzbekistan. The event was attended by representatives of regulators, technology companies, banks, as well as international experts in the field of digitalization.

The forum's key message: artificial intelligence has ceased to be a niche technology and has become an integral part of the industry's development strategy. In his speech, Anvarkhoja Kadirov, Director of the Research Institute of Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence under the Ministry of ICT Development of Uzbekistan, noted that the goals of the national strategy "Uzbekistan-2030" include increasing the export of AI services to $1.5 billion and creating 100 thousand jobs in the digital economy.

The conference focused on the transformation of business processes, financial analytics, customer experience, and information security. According to Vasily Sereda, CEO of Sarkor, the development of digital infrastructure is a key condition for the sustainable implementation of AI. He emphasized the need for reliable data centers and cloud clusters to support real-time intelligent services.

Particular attention was paid to changing approaches to scoring and data analysis. Nuriddin Lafizov, CEO of Alif Uzbekistan, spoke about the transition from formal questionnaires to assessing user behavior in the digital environment. Stanislav Skvirsky from Payme also supported this trend, reporting on the introduction of AI-based speech recognition tools, language models, and autonomous agents working with clients in TBC Uzbekistan.

Archil Dzodzuashvili from Wings AI noted that automation already allows processing millions of applications without losing quality. Representatives of Asaka Bank described the use of machine learning to accurately assess credit risk and individualize rates.

However, the growth of data volumes increases the risks. Mikhail Berezin of Group-IB reported a 68-fold increase in cybercrime over the past five years. He drew attention to the use of AI in attacks-from generating malicious code to forging identity using deepfakes. In response, companies are implementing behavioral biometrics and anomaly mining.

According to Rustam Fayziev, co-founder of Click, fintech companies should not only be technologically advanced, but also respond to threats faster than cybercriminals. Dinar Samigullin from HUMO emphasized the role of AI as a tool for stability and security at the system level.

Anna Matyushenko from Tenge Bank spoke about the transformation of the client service, while Alexander Piletsky from Yandex Cloud presented solutions for recognizing Uzbek speech and adapting technologies to local features.

The final panel discussion outlined three main areas of development: hyperpersonalization of financial products, predictive fraud protection, and seamless payment solutions. According to Zhakhongir Usmonov, CEO of ZOO Uzbekistan, artificial intelligence has already become a part of everyday financial reality.

Tawfiq Khisamov, General Director of the event organizer, stressed the importance of coordinating the efforts of the state, infrastructure companies, developers and fintech. According to him, the conference combined the strategic and applied levels, contributing to the formation of a single digital ecosystem.

KEY TECH: AI in Banks and Fintech confirmed that Uzbekistan is moving towards the status of a regional leader in the use of AI in the financial sector, combining technological progress with institutional maturity and international cooperation.