Halyk GovTech

The main goals of the project can be divided into the following categories:

· Unifying Access for Simplified Transactions: At the forefront of our goals is the ambition to provide citizens with a unified platform, effortlessly bridging their financial and governmental needs. This integration eliminates the need for navigating disparate platforms, offering citizens a consolidated space to conduct transactions seamlessly. By simplifying interactions, citizens experience a tangible reduction in complexity, setting the stage for a more streamlined and interconnected public service ecosystem.

· Inclusivity and Enhanced Accessibility: The integration isn't just about technological advancement, it's a societal stride towards inclusivity. One of the main goals was to enable more citizens of all categories and in all parts of the country to receive public services. It is online interaction that makes it possible to build a truly universal service for everyone.

· Streamlining Transactions for Efficiency: Efficiency is paramount, and our project strives to streamline transactions to save both time and cost for citizens and the government. Tasks such as tax filing, benefit applications and other can be efficiently completed through the banking application. This not only saves citizens valuable time but also optimizes government resources, contributing to a more efficient and cost-effective public sector.

· Empowering Citizens in the Digital Realm: Beyond transactional efficiency, our project aspires to empower citizens in the digital realm. Through a secure and user-friendly banking application, citizens gain greater control over their interactions with the government. This empowerment fosters a sense of autonomy, trust, and confidence in conducting both financial and government-related transactions digitally.

· Ensuring Robust Security and Data Protection: A fundamental goal is to guarantee the highest standards of security and data protection. Robust encryption, multi-factor authentication, and strict compliance with data protection regulations are integral aspects. Building trust in the security of the integrated system is not just a goal,it's a prerequisite for widespread adoption and acceptance among citizens.

· Implementation of unique services. Since the new approach pushes the boundaries of conventional public services, one of the goals was to find and implement unique services through a digital approach.

· Elevating User Experience: User-centric design is a focal point of our project goals. We aim to create an intuitive interface with easy navigation, ensuring citizens of varying technological proficiencies can seamlessly interact with the integrated platform. Personalized services, proactive assistance, and feedback mechanisms contribute to an en hanced overall user experience.

· Fostering Collaborative Synergy Between Sectors: Collaboration between the banking sector and government entities extends beyond logistical necessity, it's a strategic imperative. This collaboration fosters a synergistic relationship, aligning goals, efficiently utilizing resources, and ensuring a unified approach to service delivery. The partnership between these sectors is not just about coexistence but about mutually reinforcing strengths for the benefit of citizens.

· Strengthening CSR. Since initially all interactions on the platform were supposed to be online, this should eliminate paper used when consuming government services and eliminate the need to use transport and accordingly reduce the carbon footprint.

· Scalability and Future-Proofing for Innovation: Our project is designed with scalability as a fundamental principle. As we integrate government services into the banking application, we lay the groundwork for future innovations and expansions. The system is engineered to seamlessly accommodate additional government services and embrace emerging technologies, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness in the face of evolving citizen requirements.

· Establishing Measurable Impact and Continuous Improvement: To evaluate the success of the project, MAU growth and the number of transactions was set as the main goals. Regular assessments and data analysis will ensure continuous improvements, ensuring that the platform evolves in tandem with citizen needs and technological advances.

All project objectives have been achieved.

• The MAU (Monthly Active Users) of the GovTech section currently stands at 864,000, accounting for 11.4% of the total MAU of the Bank's applications.
• Launch of 52 services, making it the leader in this regard among not only banks, but also all external platforms through which public services are provided.
• The services are highly popular among the Bank’s customers and had been used more than 20.8 million times.
• Some services were presented to senior government officials, including the Kazakh president.

As a result of this work, numerous public bodies now view the Bank as a reliable, high-tech partner and include its representatives in key working groups when planning new initiatives to make public services available on external platforms.

One of the significant challenges was the need to amend the existing legislation for certain services. Changes in legislation are an inevitable part of evolving industries, including the field of information technology. During the project implementation, the team actively collaborated with representatives of governmental structures to promptly identify and analyze potential legislative changes that could impact the project.

The outcome of this collaboration was the signing of relevant regulations and agreements, establishing the legal framework for the smooth operation of the project under the new conditions. These documents were developed with consideration for the interests of both parties and ensure stability and transparency in the collaboration between the Bank and government authorities.

In the 1990s, Kazakhstan launched a state program for accelerated industrial and innovative development. Subsequently, in 2005, the formation of the "e-government" began. One of the steps towards creating conditions for transitioning to an information society was the State Program "Informational Kazakhstan-2020," approved in 2013. Serving as the foundation for the country's digital transformation, this program contributed to the development of the following factors: the transition to an information society, improvement of state governance, establishment of "open and mobile government" institutions, and increased accessibility of information infrastructure not only for corporate structures but also for the country's citizens.

The next step was the program "Digital Kazakhstan," the main goals of which included improving the quality of life for the population using digital technologies in the medium term. It also aimed to create conditions for transitioning Kazakhstan's economy onto a fundamentally new trajectory of development, ensuring the establishment of a digital economy for the future in the long term. Additionally, the program aimed to transition to the principles of open architecture (Open API). Goals were set for the development of high-quality, continuous mobile coverage for the population of Kazakhstan and ubiquitous, high-speed access for individuals and companies to global data transmission networks.

All this laid the foundation for the integration of the state and the private sector. Also, the strongest catalyst was the coronavirus, due to which several services moved online and improved the public’s perception of digital services.

Halyk Group saw this opportunity and in mid-2021, the Bank set up the GovTech division. Halyk Group is Kazakhstan’s leading universal financial group, with the largest client base and sales channel network in the country: 9.9 million active retail customers and 313,000 active corporate and SME customers; 9.4 million retail customers using the Homebank online banking system and 418,000 corporate and SME customers using the Onlinebank portal; largest branch network with 572 branches and outlets, 4,580 ATMs (marketshare of 37.0%) and 275,812 POS terminals (market share of 33.8%).

Halyk GovTech main objectives are to make public services part of the Bank’s applications, integrate public services to automate the Bank’s internal business processes and liaise with government agencies regarding digitalization issues. The project represents a platform within banking applications where government services from various agencies are integrated. Initially, services with high levels of demand have been integrated into the platform. With each service Bank studied existing business processes and re-engineered them to optimize and simplify the customer journey. Among the implemented services are:

• Various types of allowances, such as applying for childbirth and childcare benefits, unemployment benefits, and benefits for large families.
• Reference information, including certificates of mandatory pension and social payments, medical certificates, information about the amount of received pension, real estate information.
• Information about legal entities, such as details about the branches of a legal entity, information about changes in founding documents, the ability to change the company's director.
• Digital documents, reissuing driver's licenses, marriage registration, queue reservation for service centers, submission of various forms of tax reporting.
• Notifications about various tax obligations, obtaining a birth certificate for a child, information about attachment to a specific medical institution, issuance of a digital power of attorney.
• Verification of mandatory medical insurance payments, obtaining a vehicle history, registration and deregistration of residence, payment of state fees.
• Proactive services - when the initiation of the service occurs on the part of the government agency.

Project encompasses the entire territory of Kazakhstan, addressing the needs and interests of both individuals and legal entities across the country. In the future, the implementation of a similar project in neighboring countries and countries with an appropriate level of e-government development is being considered.