TBC Bank Group said its acquisition of OLX Uzbekistan is a long-term strategic investment that will help expand its digital ecosystem beyond banking while opening the door to future embedded finance offerings on one of the country’s largest online marketplaces.
The comments came in an exclusive interview with Crowdfund Insider, days after TBC announced it had agreed to acquire OLX Uzbekistan through a joint venture with Titan Investments, an international investment holding company backed by institutional investors, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The acquisition gives TBC control of Uzbekistan’s leading online classifieds platform, which attracts more than 5 million monthly active users and ranks among the country’s 10 most-visited websites, according to the company.
“We view this acquisition as a long-term investment in one of Uzbekistan’s strongest local digital platforms. For us, it is a natural step in developing our digital ecosystem and expanding into new business segments,” TBC told Crowdfund Insider.
The lender said the deal supports its strategy of diversifying beyond financial services into high-growth digital businesses across Central Asia while creating opportunities to deepen customer engagement.
“This acquisition represents an important step in executing our strategy to further diversify our business and expand our ecosystem beyond financial services into new high-growth digital sectors,” the company said.
For now, OLX Uzbekistan will continue to operate as an independent classifieds platform under its existing brand, with TBC focusing on supporting the local management team and investing in product development and marketing.
“Our objective is to preserve what users value today while investing for the long-term in service quality, safety, innovation and the strength of Uzbekistan’s digital infrastructure more broadly,” the company said.
TBC said it sees opportunities over time to integrate selected financial and payment services from its Uzbekistan ecosystem into the platform, although it declined to discuss a product roadmap.
“It is too early to comment on the specific product roadmap,” the company said when asked whether lending, buy now, pay later, insurance, or merchant financing would eventually be offered through OLX Uzbekistan.
The bank added that any future financial products would be introduced gradually and only where they “create additional value for users while preserving the openness and independence that have made OLX Uzbekistan successful.”
TBC said its partnership with Titan Investments combines complementary strengths, with Titan contributing expertise in scaling high-growth digital platforms while TBC focuses on growing the business, developing new products, and integrating financial services where appropriate.