The Central Bank of Uzbekistan and the Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the General Prosecutor’s Office have adopted amendments to the rules of internal control in commercial banks, significantly expanding requirements for monitoring money transfers, bank card transactions, and customer identification.
The document (in Russian, attached below) was signed on April 15–16, 2026, registered on May 8, and will enter into force three months after official publication, on August 9, 2026.
The amendments relate to regulations against money laundering, terrorist financing, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. In practice, the changes strengthen state and banking oversight over the movement of funds both within the country and abroad.
The measures primarily target the market for card-to-card transfers, which in Uzbekistan is widely used both for everyday payments and for informal money transfers between individuals. Large P2P transactions conducted within a 30-day period will come under additional monitoring.
One of the key changes concerns transfers via bank cards and electronic wallets. Banks will be required to pay special attention to transactions in which a customer transfers money through a mobile application to one or several bank cards or electronic wallets totaling at least 500 base calculation units (BCU) within 30 days. Similar monitoring will apply to incoming transfers if the total amount received on a card reaches 1,000 BCU during the same period.
At the time of publication, one BCU in Uzbekistan amounts to 412,000 soums (around $34 at the Central Bank exchange rate).
An exception is provided for real estate and vehicle transactions conducted through escrow accounts.
In practice, the amendments significantly expand the volume of data that banks must collect and transmit for money transfers. In addition to the customer’s name and identifiers, this includes residential address, date of birth, card or account number, and unique transaction codes enabling the movement of funds to be traced from sender to recipient. The new requirements apply both to international transfers and to part of domestic transfers.
For individuals, banks will now be required to transmit first name, surname, patronymic, residential address, date of birth, ID card or biometric passport details, as well as transaction identifiers enabling the transfer to be traced from sender to recipient.
Separate requirements are introduced for domestic electronic transfers. If the transaction amount exceeds 25 BCU, banks must transmit information about the sender and recipient under rules similar to those for international transfers.
In addition, banks will be required to ensure the traceability of bank card numbers when paying for goods and services, while during cash withdrawals they must transmit the customer’s bank account or card number to the financial institution involved. In cases involving transactions outside Uzbekistan, customer information must be provided to a foreign financial institution no later than three working days after a request.
For the first time, the document separately mentions countries under enhanced monitoring by the FATF, the international Financial Action Task Force. Transactions linked to such countries will be considered suspicious if their amount reaches 1,000 BCU within 30 days.
The formal inclusion of countries under enhanced FATF monitoring reflects the ongoing alignment of Uzbekistan’s financial regulation with international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards.
The amendments also strengthen customer due diligence requirements. Banks must understand the ownership and management structure of legal entities, analyze the origin of funds, connections between transaction participants, and their business reputation using open sources.
The amendments expand the scope for covert financial monitoring. Banks are allowed not to inform customers about suspicions if disclosing such information could interfere with an investigation. In such cases, information must be transmitted to the authorized state body.
A separate provision allows banks to refrain from conducting standard customer checks if this could disclose suspicions regarding possible money laundering or terrorism financing. Financial institutions are required to report suspicious transactions to the authorized state body.
The new rules also affect underage customers. Transactions on accounts belonging to persons under 16 years old will come under monitoring if the amount of incoming funds, withdrawals, or debits exceeds 40 BCU within two working days.
The document also formalizes the use of digital customer identification. Banks will be able to verify identities through electronic services, including the Unified Portal of Interactive Public Services and the “Social Card” application.
The document strengthens the trend toward full traceability of financial transactions within the banking system. Commercial banks are required to ensure the ability to track transfers and the movement of funds between financial institutions, including bank card transactions.
At the same time, under the new rules, citizens will be able to purchase cash foreign currency from banks in amounts up to $500 without presenting a passport, ID card, or other identification documents. Previously, this threshold stood at $100.
The amendments were adopted amid Uzbekistan’s continuing alignment of financial regulation with FATF standards. In recent years, the country’s authorities have consistently expanded digital monitoring mechanisms in the banking system and increased transparency requirements for financial transactions.
Overall, the changes mean further tightening of control over banking operations in Uzbekistan, broader digital customer identification, and a reduction in the level of anonymity in financial transfers. At the same time, some threshold values have been raised, which may reduce the number of checks for smaller transactions.
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