In 2025, one in five banks in the EAEU was under foreign control

By the end of 2025, there were 435 banks operating in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. Of these, 95 – or almost 22 per cent – were under foreign control, according to data from the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Over the course of the year, the number of such banks in the Union remained unchanged. However, their distribution across countries has changed. In Kazakhstan, the number of banks under foreign control rose from 12 to 14, whilst in Russia it fell from 50 to 48.

Foreign capital is most strongly represented in Belarus’s banking system: there, 14 out of 21 banks, or around 67 per cent, are under foreign control. In Kazakhstan, the figure stands at 14 out of 23 banks, or 61 per cent, whilst in Armenia it is nine out of 17, or 53 per cent.

In Kyrgyzstan, foreign owners controlled ten out of 22 banks — approximately 45.5 per cent. This is more than double the average for the EAEU. Over the course of the year, the number of such banks in the country remained unchanged, whilst the total number of commercial banks rose from 21 to 22 (as at the end of 2025). To date, 26 banks have been registered in the republic, 15 of which are foreign-owned.

The lowest proportion of banks under foreign control is observed in Russia – around 14 per cent, or 48 out of 352 institutions. However, due to the size of the Russian market, Russia accounts for more than half of all foreign-controlled banks in the EAEU.

In total, the Union’s banks have 1,486 branches — 13 fewer than a year earlier. The number of their representative offices abroad, by contrast, increased from 28 to 29.