National Bank of Uzbekistan

NBU was established by Islam Karimov on September 7, 1991, as a unitary enterprise. The bank started operations on October 7, 1991, with one hundred staff. The first office of the bank was located at 23, Akhunbabayeva street.

In 2019, NBU was transformed from a unitary enterprise whose capital was held by the Government of Uzbekistan into a joint stock company owned by the Foundation for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Economics and Finance.

Operations

NBU is the largest bank in Uzbekistan accounts for around a quarter of the assets of the banking system. It's the largest retail deposit holder in the country and also holds deposits governmental offices, public sector entities, and state-owned enterprises. Roughly a half of its loan portfolio is represented by the projects in industries prioritized by the government. The bank also provides commercial services to individuals and organizations.

The bank has 90 offices in Uzbekistan and a subsidiary bank in Russia, the Asia-Invest Bank. In 2025, Russian investigative journalists reported that the European Union considered sanctions against the NBU, which could lead to disconnection from the SWIFT network. Since 2020, NBU is a part of the Russian SPFS network launched as an equivalent for SWIFT.

NBU has around 700 correspondent banks in 80 countries, including JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, The Bank of New York Mellon, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale, Credit Suisse, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, MUFG Bank, Sberbank of Russia, VTB Bank, and others.

Retail banking

In 1993, NBU joined Visa International. Since 1994, it started issuing Visa cards (Uzbekistani sum cards since 1996). In 1997, NBU for the first time in Uzbekistan introduced a payroll project for The Coca-Cola Company. In 2016, NBU joined MasterCard International.