Uzbekistan Plans Separate Law to Regulate Installment Payments

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan plans to develop a separate law regulating BNPL (buy now, pay later) payments, the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank, Sanjar Nosirov, announced on 13 January during a media dialogue.

According to Nosirov, the Central Bank has already started work in this direction in cooperation with government representatives. As a first step, the regulator developed BNPL payment standards and forwarded them to industry associations, which have begun implementing them.

“In the next stage, our plans include drafting and adopting a separate decree and a standalone law. Work is already underway within our internal processes. We plan to gradually introduce BNPL payment regulation through the Central Bank,” Nosirov said.

He emphasized that special attention in forming these regulations is given to preventing excessive debt burdens on the population. In this regard, the Central Bank has already taken several measures, including the mandatory reporting of BNPL agreements to the credit bureau.

Going forward, the regulator plans to require BNPL service providers to consider borrowers’ debt loads. Market participants will need to request data from credit bureaus, calculate debt-to-income ratios, and comply with established limits.