Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Central Bank of Uzbekistan, in collaboration with IFC (International Finance Corporation), held a roundtable with local financial institutions to share results of the Market Research to Assess the Business Opportunity of Women’s Markets for Financial Services in Uzbekistan. The event brought together more than 40 participants. 

The research was conducted to better understand the financial and non-financial needs, habits, and motivation of three sub-segments of women owned enterprises (early-stage entrepreneurs, stability-oriented entrepreneurs, and growth-oriented entrepreneurs) and three sub-segments of individual female clients (urban young professionals, urban family managers, and women in rural areas).  

The study was implemented as part of the IFC Central Asia Banking on Women project. The overall objective of the project is to increase access to financial and non-financial services for women-owned enterprises as well as individual female customers in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. 

Research reveals that for Uzbek banks women clients represent a yet untapped commercial revenue opportunity of 58.9 trillion soums (US$5.4bn) which is 12.8 times more than the estimated current market.

Many needs of women-led business and women in retail banking are not yet met in Uzbekistan and financial institutions (FIs) leave significant market potential underserved. Women as individuals and as entrepreneurs display a keen openness to lending; however, this interest is largely directed towards loan products in line with international best practices - credit offerings with lower interest rates and more flexible collateral requirements and conditions. Lack of ease and convenience of use in banking services is also considered as a barrier to higher banking products utilization. 

Uzbek women express a strong desire to see reduced waiting lines and friendly and helpful interactions with staff. Along with improving physical interactions, improving the user experience and usability of the digital services would be a strong point of differentiation considering Uzbek women’s strong preference towards using mobile apps for interacting with banks. Uzbek women forming the retail segment look for more guidance on achieving financial stability. 

Most FIs in Uzbekistan have yet to understand and capitalize on the potential of targeting women. Currently, they largely provide basic banking services, which are at risk of becoming commoditized. Current market offerings resemble a form of “banking as a commodity” leaving an opportunity to provide significantly more value for women as individuals and as entrepreneurs. At the same time, new entrants are driving the disintermediation of the financial services sector. Disruptors have entered the market with a large variety of services - often still niche, some have already gained significant traction.