Alatau City Bank

The multi-currency account that converts your money without asking

Open the Alatau City Bank app, and the multi-currency account feature sits right on the main screen. You can hold tenge, dollars, euros, and rubles. The app lets you convert between them instantly. This sounds useful. But there is a catch. The conversion happens automatically in the background. No warning. No confirmation screen. A customer in Kazakhstan received a transfer in tenge from another bank and decided to top up a deposit. The payment was still processing. Instead of showing an insufficient funds error, the app quietly took money from the euro account. It converted the euros to tenge at the bank's internal rate. The deposit went through. The customer then tried to convert back to euros. Another conversion. Another loss. The bank's rate was worse than the market rate. The customer lost money twice in a single transaction. The app never asked for permission. It never showed a warning. This is not a bug. It is how the system is designed. The app prioritizes transaction completion over user awareness. For a user holding multiple currencies, this is a significant risk. The feature is useful, but the implementation is flawed.

The app itself is a super-app. It combines banking, a marketplace, investments, and insurance. The home screen has icons for each section. The design is clean but busy. The top section shows your account balance. Below that, a carousel of promotional banners. Then the main menu: Cards, Transfers, Payments, Deposits, Market, Investments, Insurance. The app assumes you already know what you want to do. There is no tutorial. For a first-time user, the sheer number of options can be overwhelming. The registration process is online, which is convenient. You need your phone number and ID. The app verifies your identity through a government database. This takes about two minutes. Once logged in, you can order a card, set up transfers, and start using the marketplace immediately. The marketplace, Alatau City Market, is integrated directly into the app. You can browse products, add them to your cart, and pay using your bank account. The app offers installment payments for purchases, up to 24 months. This is a key differentiator from other banking apps in Kazakhstan. Kaspi.kz has a similar marketplace, but Alatau City Bank's integration is tighter.

The marketplace financing loop and its hidden conversion cost

Alatau City Market offers installment payments for up to 24 months. The process is seamless. You select a product, choose the installment option, and the app calculates the monthly payment. The interest rate is not always clear. The app shows the monthly payment amount, but not the total cost of credit. Users have reported that the effective interest rate is higher than advertised. The bank offers promotional rates for certain products, but these are not always applied correctly. The app does not show a breakdown of the interest and fees. This lack of transparency is a recurring theme. The marketplace is integrated with the banking side, so your installment payments are automatically deducted from your account. If you have multiple installment plans, the app does not provide a consolidated view. You have to track each plan separately. This can lead to missed payments and late fees. The app does not send reminders for upcoming payments. This is a significant oversight for a financial app. The financing feature is useful, but the implementation is incomplete. The app prioritizes the user's ability to buy, but not their ability to manage the resulting debt.

The marketplace adds another layer of complexity when combined with the multi-currency feature. When you buy something from Alatau City Market, the app uses your default account for payment. If your default account is in a different currency, the app converts it automatically. There is no prompt to choose which account to use. This can lead to unexpected conversions and fees. The app does not clearly communicate the exchange rate or the fee before the transaction is completed. Users have complained about this lack of transparency. The bank's FAQ section acknowledges that conversions are subject to the bank's internal rate, but this information is not presented during the checkout process. The clash between the multi-currency feature and the marketplace creates a situation where users can unintentionally lose money on every purchase. This is a practical limitation that is not mentioned in the Play Store description. The app's reliance on automatic conversion without explicit user consent is a significant design flaw that undermines trust.

Performance after the rebrand: bugs, outages, and support delays

The app was previously known as Jusan Bank. The rebrand to Alatau City Bank happened in mid-2025. The transition was not smooth. Users reported issues with logging in, lost transaction history, and missing features. The app's rating dropped during the transition. The current version has improved, but problems persist. Crashes are common. Users report that the app freezes when making transfers or paying bills. The support team is available via phone at 7711, but response times are slow. Some users have waited days for a resolution. The app's permission list is not shown on the Play Store, but the app requires access to your camera, contacts, and storage. This is standard for a banking app, but the lack of transparency is concerning. The version changelog for the latest update says: "Improved app performance so transfers and payments go faster." This is vague. It does not specify what was fixed or what issues remain. The bank has also faced technical issues with its card system. In October 2025, the bank temporarily suspended card operations for maintenance. Users were notified in advance, but the disruption still caused inconvenience. The app itself is functional for basic tasks, but it is not reliable for complex operations like multi-currency trading or large transfers.

The bank has over 85 branches in 43 cities across Kazakhstan, serves 2.5 million clients, and employs around 5,000 staff members. It is the sixth-largest bank in Kazakhstan by assets, with assets totaling 3.35 trillion tenge at the end of 2025. The bank is controlled by Vyacheslav Kim, co-owner of Kaspi.kz and Kazakhstan's richest businessman with a net worth of $7.8 billion. In August 2026, the bank announced integration with Pax Finance, Kazakhstan's first licensed cryptocurrency exchange, allowing clients to fund their exchange accounts directly from the bank app. This positions Alatau City Bank at the forefront of Kazakhstan's crypto hub strategy. However, the integration also adds another layer of complexity to an already feature-dense app. Users will be able to convert fiat to digital assets directly through the app, potentially introducing new opportunities for hidden fees and automatic conversions.

The deposit that pays 15.5% but locks your money in stages

Alatau City Bank offers deposits with a headline rate of up to 15.5% annual interest. That number stands out. It is higher than what most Kazakhstani banks offer. But the fine print is not on the main screen. You have to tap through to the deposit terms to see the catch: the money is locked in stages. You can withdraw in installments, but not all at once. The app does not explain this clearly during the sign-up flow. Users have reported confusion when they try to access their full deposit balance and find only a portion available. The app lists the deposit feature prominently, but the restrictions are buried in the terms. This creates a gap between what the user expects and what the app delivers. The deposit page shows the interest rate in large text, but the withdrawal conditions are in smaller font. For a banking app that prides itself on transparency, this is a noticeable oversight. The Baytaq deposit is a term deposit, and the app allows partial withdrawals at any time, but the terms are not clearly communicated during the account opening process. This lack of clarity, combined with the automatic conversion issues and the marketplace financing costs, creates a pattern of opacity that runs through the entire app experience. The app offers a wide range of services, but it does not always explain the costs and risks associated with using them.