Seven Years on Nasdaq: How Freedom Holding Corp. Grew Beyond Brokerage

New York, USA, October 19th, 2026, FinanceWire

Seven years ago, Freedom Holding Corp. arrived on Nasdaq as a financial services company best known for its brokerage business. Today, its activities stretch from banking and insurance to grocery deliveries, travel and telecommunications. As the group marks the anniversary of its US stock-market listing, founder Timur Turlov is looking beyond Kazakhstan to see how far its digital ecosystem can travel.

Seven years on Nasdaq

Freedom Holding Corp. began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker FRHC on October 15, 2019. At the time, it described itself as the first Kazakhstan-headquartered financial services company to reach a US exchange.

The listing was about visibility as much as funding. “We expect this listing will facilitate our efforts to communicate our vision to a broader audience,” Turlov said in the company's October 2019 announcement.

Freedom Holding shares were priced at $14.42 when Nasdaq trading began, according to a company retrospective. They closed at $180.39 on October 15, 2026, an increase of more than twelvefold. Its market value rose from roughly $800 million around the 2019 listing to more than $11 billion. Those figures show substantial growth, although the share price has fluctuated sharply along the way.

International listings are no longer unusual for major Kazakhstan-linked businesses. Kaspi.kz joined Nasdaq in January 2024, while Kazatomprom and Air Astana have traded securities in London. Their businesses and listing structures differ, but together they illustrate the growing presence of Kazakhstan-linked companies on global capital markets.

From financial services to an ecosystem

Freedom Holding Corp. began with brokerage. It later built a wider financial business, acquiring a Kazakhstan bank in 2020 and two insurers in 2022. Its portfolio now includes Freedom Bank Kazakhstan, Freedom Life, Freedom Insurance, the Arbuz.kz grocery service, Aviata travel services and Freedom Telecom. The group is also pursuing AI infrastructure projects, though major proposed facilities are not yet completed.

The idea behind this range of businesses is to bring financial and everyday services together in one place. Freedom SuperApp connects banking, payments, investments and shopping, making it easier for customers to use different services within the same platform. According to the company's 2026 annual report, monthly active users rose from 1.02 million in March 2025 to 2.59 million in March 2026. The wider Freedom ecosystem has an even larger reach: including partner companies and international businesses, it serves more than 14 million customers, according to the company.

The business has also grown in financial terms. For the year ended March 31, 2026, Freedom reported $2.19 billion in revenue, compared with $2.00 billion a year earlier. Net income increased from $76.2 million to $153.3 million. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, covering April through June 2026, revenue rose 40% to $732.5 million.

By June 30, 2026, assets had reached $14.05 billion. Its shareholder base also includes major institutional investors: Freedom's October 2026 anniversary statement names BlackRock, State Street and Morgan Stanley among them. Institutional positions may be held for clients and can change between reporting dates.

Why diversification matters

The expansion is partly a response to the limits of a brokerage-led business. Trading revenue moves with financial markets, while banking, insurance and consumer services follow different cycles. Having several sources of income may reduce dependence on any one sector, even as it adds new costs and risks.

For Timur Turlov, however, diversification is also a technology strategy. Rather than operating each service as an isolated business, Freedom Holding Corp. wants to connect them through the SuperApp, making it easier for an existing customer to use another product. Whether that model works abroad will depend on local regulation, competition and what customers actually want.

Taking the Kazakhstan model abroad

Freedom Holding now operates in more than 20 countries, but its full Kazakhstan-style ecosystem is not available in all of them. In much of Europe, its established business is brokerage: Freedom24, operated through Cyprus-regulated Freedom Finance Europe, gives customers access to international securities markets. Banking is the next ambition. The company applied for a French banking licence in June 2026 and has outlined a €500 million investment plan for a digital bank and supporting infrastructure. Approval is still pending.

In Central Asia, Freedom Bank Tajikistan received its banking licence in October 2024. The company has since been developing a digitally focused bank there, giving it an early opportunity to adapt products built for the Kazakhstan market.

Türkiye offers a different route: buying an existing bank. On July 31, 2026, Freedom Holding completed the acquisition of 99.32% of Turkish Bank, with plans to rename it Freedom Bank A.Ş. The goal is to develop financial and consumer services around the bank. “We are now bringing this model to Türkiye,” Turlov said when the deal closed.

Elsewhere, plans are at an earlier stage. Freedom already has an investment-banking operation in the US, and Turlov has discussed taking more of the group's consumer-facing model there. In Pakistan, he met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in May 2026 to discuss possible branches, digital financial services and banking partnerships. Discussions do not yet amount to an operating business.

Seven years on Nasdaq have given Freedom Holding Corp. greater scale and a broader international profile. The next test is less about adding countries to the map than about turning licences, acquisitions and technology into profitable local businesses.

About Freedom Holding Corp.

Freedom Holding Corp. provides financial services in 24 countries, including Kazakhstan, the United States, multiple EU countries, Uzbekistan, and Armenia. The Company’s principal executive office is located in New York City. In Kazakhstan, Freedom is actively developing its financial and digital ecosystem, which includes Freedom Bank, Freedom Broker, the insurance companies Freedom Life and Freedom insurance, as well as a lifestyle segment that features Arbuz.kz, Freedom Ticketon, and Aviata. Freedom Holding Corp. shares are traded on the U.S. technology exchange NASDAQ, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), and the Astana International Exchange (AIX) under the ticker symbol FRHC. Freedom Holding Corp. is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the common stock is included in the Russell 3000 Index.

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