Wallets/mbank
MBANK (Mbank OJSC, Kyrgyzstan)
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Overview
MBANK is the mobile banking app of Mbank OJSC, a Kyrgyz commercial bank in Bishkek that until February 2025 was called Commercial Bank KYRGYZSTAN [2](https://economist.kg/banki/2025/02/06/natsbank-zamienil-litsienziiu-kommierchieskii-bank-kyrghyzstan-tiepier-ofitsialno-mbank/). The app pays the national ELQR QR code, sends money by phone number to people in Kyrgyzstan and abroad, and pays more than 1,000 services, by the bank's own count [1](https://mbank.kg/about). The bank says it has more than 3 million clients and calls MBANK the most popular mobile banking app in the country [1](https://mbank.kg/about); the app passed 7 million downloads in May 2024 [5](https://kaktus.media/doc/501689_mbank_vybor_bolshinstva_kyrgyzstancev_7_mln_skachivaniy.html). It is by far the most-rated finance app in Kyrgyzstan's App Store [13](https://itunes.apple.com/search?term=optima24&country=kg&entity=software).
History
- 1988–2006: the bank. The bank traces its history to 1 January 1988, as the Kirghiz office of the USSR's Zhilsotsbank. On that base the bank was created on 6 November 1990 and registered as AKB "Kyrgyzstan". It became OJSC "AKB Kyrgyzstan" in 2005 and, from 20 November 2006, OJSC "Commercial Bank KYRGYZSTAN" [1](https://mbank.kg/about).
- December 2014: the MBANK app. Apple's store record gives 17 December 2014 as the release date of the iOS app [11](https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=922922121&country=kg).
- 2023: 6 million downloads. At its year-end press lunch in December 2023 the bank said the app had reached 6 million downloads. That year it added Visa Direct transfers abroad by Visa card number, linking other banks' Visa cards to top up an account, the MBonus loyalty programme, and online change of the phone number tied to the app. For businesses it launched MKassa, with free cash registers, free payments through "MBANK QR" and its own SmartPOS terminals. ATMs with NFC let customers withdraw and deposit cash with a phone instead of a card [6](https://economist.kg/novosti-kompanii/2023/12/29/aktivnyi-prirost-i-dinamichnoie-razvitiie-mbank-v-2023-ghodu/).
- May 2024: 7 million downloads. The bank put the count at 7 million. It said the app then served more than 1,500 billers and more than 100 government services, and that the Interbank Processing Center (IPC) had named it the leader by number of active users of ELQR payments [5](https://kaktus.media/doc/501689_mbank_vybor_bolshinstva_kyrgyzstancev_7_mln_skachivaniy.html). The article is company news, so these are the bank's claims.
- 5 February 2025: the bank takes the app's name. The NBKR replaced the bank's licences after the change of its legal name. In English it is now "Mbank" Open joint-stock company, short form Mbank OJSC [2](https://economist.kg/banki/2025/02/06/natsbank-zamienil-litsienziiu-kommierchieskii-bank-kyrghyzstan-tiepier-ofitsialno-mbank/).
Ownership & operator
The operator is Mbank OJSC (ОАО «Мбанк»), which works under NBKR banking licence No. 014; its head office is at 223 Ankara Street, Bishkek [1](https://mbank.kg/about). It is a principal member of Visa International, so it issues and services Visa cards under its own design, and it also issues the national Elcard card [1](https://mbank.kg/about).
The bank is privately owned. In March 2024 the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange published a transfer of shares on 2 March from Aya Babanova to her brother, the businessman and former prime minister Omurbek Babanov. Before that transfer she held 98% of the bank's shares, 999.8 million shares worth almost 5 billion som; the number of shares transferred was not disclosed [4](https://economist.kg/banki/2024/03/04/omurbiek-babanov-poluchil-aktsii-mbank-ot-siestry/). We found no later published shareholder breakdown.
Technical integration
The national QR code (ELQR): full support. IPC, the national QR interaction operator, lists both the bank (as ОАО «Коммерческий банк КЫРГЫЗСТАН», its old name) and the MBANK and MKassa apps among ELQR participants in October 2026, so the app pays any participating bank's or wallet's code [10](https://ipc.kg/digital-services/elqr/). Merchants take payment through MKassa [6](https://economist.kg/novosti-kompanii/2023/12/29/aktivnyi-prirost-i-dinamichnoie-razvitiie-mbank-v-2023-ghodu/). The ELQR payments page explains how a Kyrgyz QR payment works.
Transfers. Inside Kyrgyzstan you can send money to another MBANK customer, or to another bank's card by card number or phone number. Abroad, the bank advertises online transfers to 160 countries, transfers to Uzbekistan by phone number, a dedicated service for Turkey, receipt of transfers from Russia, and QR payment in Turkey through "QR MBANK" [8](https://mbank.kg/denezhnye-perevody-v-mbank).
Cards and NFC. All MBANK Visa and Mastercard debit cards can be added to Apple Pay, from Apple Wallet or from the app's "Мой банк" section; credit cards are not supported yet. Apple Pay has no separate limits: the card's own limits apply [7](https://mbank.kg/cards/apple-pay). National Elcard cards are issued too [1](https://mbank.kg/about).
MPay. A Bluetooth feature, MPay, pays an MKassa terminal by holding the phone to it, even without internet, and sends money to people nearby without a phone number or account details [9](https://mbank.kg/mpay).
Channels and identifiers. iOS and Android apps [11](https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=922922121&country=kg)[12](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maanavan.mb_kyrgyzstan&hl=en), cards, NFC wallets and ATMs. You are identified by your phone number; payees by phone number, card number or QR code [8](https://mbank.kg/denezhnye-perevody-v-mbank).
Users & growth
| Figure | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| App downloads | 6 million | December 2023 | [6](https://economist.kg/novosti-kompanii/2023/12/29/aktivnyi-prirost-i-dinamichnoie-razvitiie-mbank-v-2023-ghodu/) |
| App downloads | 7 million | May 2024 | [5](https://kaktus.media/doc/501689_mbank_vybor_bolshinstva_kyrgyzstancev_7_mln_skachivaniy.html) |
| Clients | more than 3,000,000 | bank site, read 22 Oct 2026 | [1](https://mbank.kg/about) |
| Staff, offices, ATMs | more than 3,500; more than 80 units; more than 400 ATMs | bank site, read 22 Oct 2026 | [1](https://mbank.kg/about) |
| Terminals taking Visa and Elcard | more than 9,000 | bank site, read 22 Oct 2026 | [1](https://mbank.kg/about) |
| App Store ratings (Kyrgyzstan) | 82,351 | 22 Oct 2026 | [11](https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=922922121&country=kg) |
Downloads are not users: one person can install the app on several phones. The bank publishes monthly financial statements on its site but no active-user count [3](https://mbank.kg/reports). For scale, the NBKR counted 578.9 million payments worth 972.9 billion som made by QR code in Kyrgyzstan in 2025, 4.9 times as many as a year earlier [14](https://www.nbkr.kg/DOC/27082026/000000000067765.pdf); it does not break the figure down by bank.
Use cases
- Shop and QR payments across the ELQR network, and with MPay at MKassa terminals [9](https://mbank.kg/mpay)[10](https://ipc.kg/digital-services/elqr/).
- Migrant remittances. Receiving money from Russia and sending to 160 countries, Uzbekistan and Turkey [8](https://mbank.kg/denezhnye-perevody-v-mbank). The app's own pitch is aimed at users "вдалеке от Родины" who send money home by phone number [1](https://mbank.kg/about).
- Bills and government services. More than 1,500 billers and more than 100 government services in May 2024 [5](https://kaktus.media/doc/501689_mbank_vybor_bolshinstva_kyrgyzstancev_7_mln_skachivaniy.html); the 2023 additions included online car re-registration, digital documents through the state "Tunduk" portal and cloud e-signatures [6](https://economist.kg/novosti-kompanii/2023/12/29/aktivnyi-prirost-i-dinamichnoie-razvitiie-mbank-v-2023-ghodu/).
- Online loans and Islamic finance. The bank says its own scoring decides an online loan in 10–15 seconds, and that its Islamic-finance line grew more than fourfold by number of financings in 2023 [6](https://economist.kg/novosti-kompanii/2023/12/29/aktivnyi-prirost-i-dinamichnoie-razvitiie-mbank-v-2023-ghodu/).
- Small business. MBusiness, launched in 2023, issues invoices with a national-standard QR code that any ELQR app can pay [6](https://economist.kg/novosti-kompanii/2023/12/29/aktivnyi-prirost-i-dinamichnoie-razvitiie-mbank-v-2023-ghodu/).
Implementations & partners
- Card schemes: Visa (principal member), Mastercard debit cards, and Elcard [1](https://mbank.kg/about)[7](https://mbank.kg/cards/apple-pay).
- Wallet: Apple Pay [7](https://mbank.kg/cards/apple-pay).
- QR network: IPC's ELQR [10](https://ipc.kg/digital-services/elqr/).
- Transfers abroad: Visa Direct [6](https://economist.kg/novosti-kompanii/2023/12/29/aktivnyi-prirost-i-dinamichnoie-razvitiie-mbank-v-2023-ghodu/), and Thunes for international transfers, named in the bank's own menu [1](https://mbank.kg/about).
Fun facts
- The app's 2023 release added television channels, Kyrgyz-language films, series from TNT Premier, and MCharts, a music section where you can send a performer a donation of 1 som at a time [6](https://economist.kg/novosti-kompanii/2023/12/29/aktivnyi-prirost-i-dinamichnoie-razvitiie-mbank-v-2023-ghodu/).
- The bank renamed itself after its app, not the other way round [2](https://economist.kg/banki/2025/02/06/natsbank-zamienil-litsienziiu-kommierchieskii-bank-kyrghyzstan-tiepier-ofitsialno-mbank/).
Comparison
Every major Kyrgyz bank app pays the same ELQR code [10](https://ipc.kg/digital-services/elqr/), so the choice comes down to the bank, its fees and its extras. App Store rating counts on 22 October 2026 give a rough sense of reach (ratings are not users) [13](https://itunes.apple.com/search?term=optima24&country=kg&entity=software):
| App | Bank | App Store ratings (KG) | iOS release |
|---|---|---|---|
| MBANK | Mbank OJSC | 82,351 | Dec 2014 |
| BakAi | Bakai Bank | 18,130 | Oct 2017 |
| Optima24 | Optima Bank | 6,873 | Feb 2016 |
| Kompanion | Kompanion Bank | 1,576 | May 2019 |
| KICB | KICB | 571 | Aug 2022 |
Status
Active. The iOS app was last updated on 20 October 2026 (version 26.09.3) [11](https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=922922121&country=kg), and the bank's site carries 2026 monthly reports [3](https://mbank.kg/reports). We found no sanctions designation of Mbank in the sources we read.
Sources
Source
Biography extracted from mbank.md. See matrix.md for standards-support matrix if present.