- Funding an account at a foreign broker and withdrawing from it is legal. No permissions are needed.
- An individual doesn't need to notify the National Bank about opening a foreign account.
- A transfer up to $10,000 needs no currency contract; above that the bank will ask for the grounds of the payment.
- Cash currency above $10,000 is banned from being taken out of the country. This doesn't concern non-cash.
- Foreign accounts and assets go into the tax declaration 250.00 / 270.00.
What the law says
The base document: the law “On currency regulation and currency control” No. 167-VI of 02.07.2018. It contains no currency prohibitions on a resident individual's operations with non-residents: funding an account at a foreign broker, getting the money back, keeping funds abroad, all of it is legal.
Individuals may open accounts with foreign banks and financial institutions freely. The requirement to notify the National Bank about opening a foreign account (art. 16 of the law) applies only to legal entities.
How a transfer to the broker goes
Non-cash transfers abroad go through Kazakhstan banks, and the bank acts as a currency-control agent. The thresholds are set by the Rules for conducting currency operations (National Bank Resolution No. 40 of 30.03.2019, in force as amended by Resolution No. 29 of 31.03.2026):
- a transfer of up to USD 10,000 equivalent needs no currency contract. The bank may at any point request documents under its own compliance rules, and that's its right at any amount;
- above USD 10,000 a supporting document is needed: the broker's contract or offer, an invoice;
- operations from USD 10,000 the bank includes in its reporting to the National Bank. This is not a request for permission but statistics: it doesn't affect the transfer itself;
- a transfer to your own bank account at a foreign bank is a separate case, no currency contract is needed at any amount;
- from USD 50,000 there's more attention: the bank collects information on the currency operation, and transfers above this amount to a non-resident professional securities-market participant (a broker among them) and to your own foreign account are explicitly classed by the Rules as operations of heightened attention (para. 19): additional questions and documents are possible;
- a currency-contract registration number with the National Bank is required of an individual only for “capital movement” contracts above USD 500,000 or with no stated amount. Most retail transfers don't fall under this, and a large transfer is in any case easier to discuss with the bank in advance.
Card payments have their own rule, and it's a soft one: a payment by a Kazakhstan bank's card goes through without a prior request for documents, and the bank will ask for information on the operation only if the amount is from USD 50,000 (para. 13 of the Rules). The practical limits don't go anywhere, though: the card's limits and the internal rules of the bank and the payment system, so a payment toward a broker can still be declined.
Cash and the border
Two different rules apply to cash, and they shouldn't be confused. First: the Kazakhstan ban on taking out cash foreign currency and monetary instruments above the equivalent of USD 10,000 (Presidential Decree No. 830 of 14.03.2022, in force with amendments of 28.02.2024). Second: the EAEU customs rule: cash above the equivalent of USD 10,000 is declared when crossing the external border. Neither the ban nor the declaration concerns non-cash transfers and cards.
A foreign account in the tax declaration
Currency law requires no reports from an individual, but tax law does. Declarations 250.00 (entry, once) and 270.00 (annual) reflect:
- money in foreign bank accounts, if in total it exceeds 1,000 MCI as of 31 December (4,325,000 tenge in 2026);
- securities, stakes in foreign companies, foreign real estate: with no amount threshold.
The 1,000 MCI threshold in the Code is written about accounts at foreign banks. A trading account at a broker is not a bank one, and there's no separate provision about it in the Code. In an old KGD reply (2018, still under Form 240.00) there was no duty to declare the money at a broker itself: bank accounts and foreign securities were declared. Recent instructions for completing Form 270.00 advise showing the money at a broker in the same section as bank accounts, but that's a recommendation from practice, not a norm.
The cautious option: disclose such an account in the declaration with the broker's name and the number, and get full certainty about your situation through a written request to the KGD. Hiding the account makes no sense in any case: brokers and investment companies also report under the CRS exchange.
Who learns what about the account
Data on foreign accounts reaches the KGD via the CRS channel (automatic exchange with dozens of countries, running since 2021), while Kazakhstan banks report to the National Bank on currency operations from USD 10,000. Counting on a foreign account being invisible is unwise: more on this in the taxes article above.
- Law “On currency regulation and currency control” No. 167-VI of 02.07.2018: art. 16 (notification of foreign accounts).
- Rules for conducting currency operations (National Bank Resolution No. 40 of 30.03.2019), as amended by Resolution No. 29 of 31.03.2026.
- The National Bank on the 2026 currency-operation rules (the USD 10,000 / 50,000 thresholds retained).
- Presidential Decree of the RK No. 830 of 14.03.2022: ban on taking out cash currency above USD 10,000.
- The National Bank: capital-movement operations and registration.
- Tax Code of the RK No. 214-VIII: art. 417 (declaring foreign assets).
- Reply of the Chairman of the KGD (2018) on money in a broker account.
- The thresholds are verified against the text of Rules No. 40 on Adilet: no currency contract up to USD 10,000 and to your own account at a foreign bank; cards without a prior request for documents, information from USD 50,000 (para. 13); heightened-attention operations, including transfers to a professional securities-market participant and to your own foreign account above USD 50,000 (para. 19).