Banking in Central Asia with Nika Kurdiani (Episode 53)
In this episode, I sit down with Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC Uzbekistan.
Guests
Show notes
In this episode, I sit down with Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC Uzbekistan.
Nika is the CEO of TBC Uzbekistan, one of the world's fastest-growing digital financial ecosystems, with more than 23 million registered users and 6 million monthly active users. He leads TBC Digital, the group's Uzbek holding company, and Space International, and sits on TBC Group's Executive Committee.
Over a career spanning more than 23 years, Nika has driven growth, transformation and post-acquisition integration across banking, payments, fintech, insurance and B2B SaaS in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. As Deputy CEO of TBC Bank Georgia, he oversaw business banking, payments, international expansion and the launch of the digital neobank Space. He also chaired the board of Payme, one of Uzbekistan's leading payment platforms, and held senior roles at UniCredit, Kaspi Bank and Bank of Georgia.
Beyond his executive work, Nika founded the Applied Management Institute and the Design Institute, invests in early-stage companies, and supports initiatives in education, food security and hospice care. He holds an MBA from IE Business School and completed executive programs at Stanford GSB and IMD.
A former professional basketball player, he received Uzbekistan's Presidential Order of Friendship (Dustlik) for his contribution to the country's financial sector.
In this episode
Nika Kurdiani explains how TBC grew from a Georgian bank into a London-listed group and built a branchless, app-only financial ecosystem in Uzbekistan. He describes TBC Uzbekistan as a platform of about ten companies rather than a bank, walks through its in-house AI (collections, sales, an in-app assistant, AI-written code) and argues that AI assistants will replace do-it-yourself digital banking. He names talent, execution discipline and fast-changing technology as the main challenges.
Chapters
- 0:00Introduction, TBC and Nika's background
- 2:12Why TBC listed in London
- 3:57Georgia and Uzbekistan as high-growth markets
- 7:35A bank or a financial services platform?
- 10:15Super apps: Central Asia vs Southeast Asia
- 14:17How TBC Uzbekistan uses AI
- 21:00Fintech trends: cashless payments, BNPL, AI assistants
- 26:38Stablecoins
- 28:20International expansion
- 31:17Main challenges
- 35:11Hiring and employer brand
- 39:43CEOs being visible on LinkedIn
- 42:03Advice for new CEOs and career starters
Key facts
TBC Group is listed in London and is a member of the FTSE 250.
Nika joined TBC in 2014 from Kaspi, after about six years at UniCredit in Austria, Kazakhstan and Turkey.
TBC Uzbekistan has no branches or offline footprint; everything is delivered through mobile apps.
TBC Uzbekistan is a group of around ten companies: a bank, the Payme payments app, a BNPL company, an insurer (TBC Sug'urta), a microfinance licence, OLX Uzbekistan and Billz, a point-of-sale software business acquired in 2025.
OLX Uzbekistan has more than 5 million unique visitors a month.
Payme added travel services at the start of 2026.
About 90% of TBC Uzbekistan's early collection calls are handled by in-house AI voice and chat technology that speaks Uzbek, Russian and a mix of both.
TBC Uzbekistan launched an in-app AI assistant, Lola, in 2025 and plans to make it a full digital relationship manager.
TBC Uzbekistan uses an AI sales agent, an AI underwriter in business banking and an AI "employee" in digital marketing, with an AI-enablement role reporting to the CEO.
About 65% of TBC Uzbekistan's code contribution is AI-generated.
Apple Pay and Google Pay are due in Uzbekistan in Q4 2026.
TBC Uzbekistan is not working on stablecoins yet and does not yet do cross-border payments.
TBC will not enter a new country until Uzbekistan delivers; candidates must be close in culture, time zone and flight time.
TBC builds its core banking system and CRM in-house.
TBC Uzbekistan has about 4,000 employees.
Super apps work only slice by slice; stuffing everything into one app creates a "garbage box". The shared data layer and single sign-on matter most.
AI assistants will replace do-it-yourself digital banking with conversation-based service, much like a concierge.
The three main challenges are talent, execution discipline and constantly changing technology.
Questions and answers
Is TBC Uzbekistan a bank or a tech company?
A financial services platform of about ten businesses, of which the bank is one, moving towards one ecosystem around the customer.
Will super apps work outside Asia?
Only when built market by market around what customers want; the connecting data layer is the hard part.
How does TBC push staff to use AI?
It tracks token use, appoints AI champions in each function and publishes which teams are most AI-enabled.
How does TBC win talent?
Leaders hire personally, the employer brand builds over time through referrals, and pay and culture must be competitive.