Published
07/27/2026, 15:28Another international money transfer system has been launched in Kyrgyzstan. The National Bank has registered the Olmapay payment system, which is operated by the Russian non-bank credit organisation NKO ‘ELEKSI’ LLC.
The system was registered on 15 July this year. Following its inclusion in the register, Olmapay was granted the right to operate within Kyrgyzstan, effectively opening up another channel for the country’s residents to send and receive money transfers, primarily from Russia.
Although the system can technically be used for international transfers in various directions, Olmapay positions itself as a service for transfers between Russia and CIS countries. On its website, the company emphasises remittances from Russia in particular, setting limits in Russian roubles and offering services tailored to Russian senders.
The arrival of this new player is particularly significant given Kyrgyz citizens’ heavy reliance on remittances. Russia remains the largest source of cross-border remittances to Kyrgyzstan. Indeed, in the first five months of this year, Kyrgyzstan received $1,247.4 million via instant remittance systems, of which over 88 per cent originated from the Russian Federation.
Prior to Olmapay’s registration, no new participants had entered Kyrgyzstan’s international money transfer market for almost ten months. The last operator to be included in the National Bank’s register was the Russian payment system ‘Hello’, registered on 2 October 2025.
With the inclusion of Olmapay, the National Bank’s state register now lists 20 operators of international money transfer systems. These include ‘Zolotaya Korona’, ‘Unistream’, MoneyGram, Western Union, Ria Money Transfer, Quickpay, OmniPay, ‘Hello’ and other systems operating in the Kyrgyz market.
