Management Team
Askhat AzhikhanovChief Executive Officer
Holds PhD in Economics from Kazakh State University, MSc in Banking and International Finance degree with honours from Cass Business School (London, UK), Bachelor in Economics degree with honours from Kazakh State Academy of Management, Bachelor in Oil and Gas Exploration degree with honours from Kazakh State Technical University.
From 1998 to 2001, worked at the National Bank of Kazakhstan Banking Supervision Department. In 2001 – 2005 held management positions at Halyk Bank (Kazakhstan).
From 2007 to 2008 worked at Credit Suisse Kazakhstan as a Head of Asset Management.
In 2009 worked as a CEO of Zhetisu Asset Management and CEO Advisor at Temir Bank.
Joined ABA in September 2009.
Babu Ram GyawaliChief Financial Officer
Graduated from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, New Delhi as well as from Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu Nepal.
Mr. Gyawali started his career in 2001 with Himalayan Bank Limited, Joint Venture Bank with Habib Bank Limited in Pakistan.
Between 2001 and 2007, worked in Himalayan Bank as Executive Financial Officer and Head of Internal Audit Department.
Since November 2007 has been working with ABA.
Galymzhan TemirovChief Information Officer
Graduated from Kazakh Technology Institute in 1993.
From 1991 till 1994 worked in Technology Processes Automation Research Laboratory Kazakh Technology Institute and in 1995 completed postgraduate course of fuzzy logical control algorithms in chemical industry.
Between 1994 and 2000 held CIT position at South Kazakhstan branch of Bank TuranAlem (BTA bank).
From 2000 worked as senior financial software development officer at head office of BTA and Deputy Chief of IT Software Development Department of Bank TuranAlem.
In June 2007 joined ABA's management team.
Bibhu PandeyChief Credit Officer
Holds Masters Degree in Economics from Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu Nepal and Masters Degree in Business Studies from Tribhuwan University.
Mr. Pandey started his career in 1997 with Himalayan Bank Limited, Joint Venture Bank with Habib Bank Limited in Pakistan.
From 1997 to 2007, worked in position of second in line in Credit Administration Department of Himalayan Bank.
During first quarter of 2008 worked at Global Bank Ltd. as second in line of Credit Department.
Joined ABA Bank in April 2008 as Head of Credit Department.
Sanzhar AbdullayevChief Card and E-Payments Officer
Graduated from the Kazakh State National University.
Between 1998 and 2007 working as a project leader for developing and supporting retail and corporate loan, securities, trade finance and core-banking system modules in IT Departments of Halyk Bank and Bank TuranAlem, Kazakhstan.
Since July 2007, has been working as Head of IT Department and from 2008 as Head of Card Center of ABA.
Zokhir RasulovChief Digital Officer
Graduated from Tashkent Polytechnic University (degree on Production Management) in 1999, started his career in IR Department of State Property Committee (SPC).
In 2005-2007, worked at the World Bank project called “SMEs development through the use of IT technologies” as a Project Manager (Uzbekistan).
Upon successful completion of the project, in 2007 joined Visor Holding representative office in Tashkent as Business analyst.
Banking industry experience starts in 2008 after joining the team of Credit-Standard Bank, Tashkent, as Chief Marketing Officer.
Afterwards was invited to join the ABA Bank team in April 2012 as Chief Marketing Officer.
In June 2016, Zokhir headed Digital Transformation process of the Bank.
Zhiger AtchabarovChief International Operations Officer
Graduated from the Kazakh-British Technical University (Almaty, Kazakhstan).
Started his carrier in 2007 at International Relations and Trade Finance Department of JSC Bank TuranAlem (BTA Bank), Almaty, Kazakhstan. From 2010 headed the Export-Import Operations Desk and from 2011 – the Regional Trade Finance Sales Desk of the bank.
In 2011 joined JSC Temirbank, Almaty, Kazakhstan as Head of Financial Institutions and Trade Finance Department and worked at the bank till 2014.
Since May 2014, has been working in ABA.
Polin MeyChief Operating Officer
Graduated from the Royal University of Agriculture in 2006 in Science of Agronomy and progressively developed himself through local and overseas skill trainings.
Prior to joining ABA, Mr. Mey worked with ANZ Royal Bank until December 2011, serving different roles in Retail Banking and Corporate and Institutional Banking. His exposures were related to management of client relationship with corporate and multi-national companies, credit analysis, and debit management.
After joining ABA in January 2012, he has worked in different roles, starting with Head of Sales and gradually developed himself to become a member of the senior management team, overseeing the entire scope of operational activities of the Bank (except lending operations) and serving as a member of various Executive-level committees.
Igor ZimarevChief Marketing and CSR Officer, Corporate Secretary
Graduated from Tashkent State University (with Honours) in Uzbekistan. Started his career in advertising industry in 2003.
In 2006-2007, worked at the World Bank project “SMEs development through the use of IT technologies” (Uzbekistan). Upon successful completion of the project, in 2007 moved to the telecom sector.
Banking experience started in 2010 after joining the marketing team of Credit Standard Bank (Uzbekistan) where he served several roles including Head of Press Service.
In September 2012, Zimarev joined ABA Bank’s team as Marketing Officer. In June 2016, he took the helm of the Marketing Division, overseeing all marketing communication channels of the Bank and CSR initiatives.
In December 2019, Zimarev was appointed Chief Marketing and CSR Officer, Corporate Secretary of ABA Bank.
Praseth KongChief Audit Advisor to the CEO
Graduated from the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) with a major in computer science and a minor in management.
From January 1999 till July 2002, she worked as an IT auditor for Arthur Andersen & Deloitte. She then joined National Bank of Canada where she held various positions with hands-on experience in Risk Management, IT Auditing, Process Analysis and Team Transformation.
During her twenty-one-year career, she has accumulated more than fourteen years of audit experience of which five years as senior manager Internal Audit while at the National Bank of Canada.
Joined ABA as the Chief Audit Advisor in November 2020.
Torsten Kleine BueningChief Risk Officer and Compliance Advisor to the CEO
Holds a degree as Diplom Wirtschafts-Informatiker / Master of Science on Information Systems of Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster (Germany).
Torsten is a risk practitioner with 20 years of experience covering conventional and Islamic Finance in developed and emerging markets.
Started his banking and finance career in 2002 after becoming Group Project Manager for Volksbanken Group in Austria, covering Austria and Central Eastern Europe. In 2006 – 2013, Torsten shaped the development of Samba Financial Group in Saudi Arabia and headed Capital & Portfolio Risk for Emirates NBD in Dubai, UAE.
In 2013, Torsten moved to Asia, becoming Head of Governance for Enterprise-Wide Risk Management for Standard Chartered (Singapore). In 2017 – 2019, he served as Chief Risk Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for Tenger Financial Group (Mongolia) covering Banking, Leasing and Insurance.
Concurrently, in 2019 – 2020, he contributed as Chief Risk Officer to the operations of Deem Finance, supporting an ambitious digital agenda.
Joined ABA in November 2020 as Chief Risk Officer.
