Freedom Holdings has applied for a French banking licence as it looks to enter Europe’s digital banking sector, while its Nasdaq-listed parent remains under examination by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, reported Financial Times.
If approved, the application would make Freedom the first formerly Russian business to move into the European banking market since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022
The group is led by Timur Turlov, who founded Freedom as a brokerage in Moscow in 2011. It is now a fintech company based in Kazakhstan with a parent incorporated in Nevada. “In Kazakhstan, we serve about half the population through one service or another,” Turlov said. “We believe the technologies that helped us grow there can do the same in Europe.” After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Turlov disposed of his Russian assets, gave up his Russian passport and became a Kazakh citizen. Freedom’s businesses now include brokerages, banks, telecoms, food delivery and travel operations in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Cyprus and the UAE.
Turlov said the company had filed documents with the French regulator to launch a digital bank with a significant office in France. He said the target was to reach as many as 50 million European customers within three years of receiving a licence, offering retail loans, investments and lifestyle services. According to Turlov, Freedom had looked for access to the EU banking market for some time, but other countries responded “formally”, while France had “expressed clear enthusiasm”.