Konstantin, who has over 25 years of experience in tech, including more than a decade focusing on artificial intelligence, will lead AI strategy for TBC’s operations in Uzbekistan, where the company has grown to become the leading digital banking ecosystem in Central Asia and is leveraging transformative developments in AI to deliver a more personalised, interactive and engaging customer experience for the benefit of its 15 million unique registered users.

This includes building an AI-enabled Virtual Assistant to bolster customer experience across TBC interfaces as well as leveraging AI-based technology to optimise customer support, sales, and other operations, enabling the digital bank to further improve user engagement, customer experience and operational efficiency.

While languages such as Uzbek are often overlooked by the global tech giants feeding speech and LLM models, catering to local needs is a crucial part of TBC’s strategy in Uzbekistan. TBC Uzbekistan is leveraging its proprietary datasets to build and train best-in-class Uzbek language models for financial services - an effort spearheaded by Konstantin’s team.

Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC operations in Uzbekistan, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Konstantin to TBC Uzbekistan as Head of AI. His appointment is testament to our commitment to cutting-edge tech innovation. It will allow us to move quickly in utilising the full potential of AI by integrating it into our product offering, improving operational efficiency and helping us deliver a best-in-class customer experience, as we build on our initial success of establishing Central Asia’s leading digital banking ecosystem.”

Konstantin Kruglov, Head of AI at TBC Uzbekistan, commented: “I am excited to be joining TBC Uzbekistan, which has an ambitious strategy to pioneer the use of AI in Central Asia. Our goal is to build an AI-capable digital banking ecosystem, whose initial key elements would include a virtual assistant supporting the Uzbek language and LLM capabilities in voice channels. I look forward to working with Nika, Oliver and the team as we build a platform that provides our customers with a highly personalised, AI-enabled customer experience, with functionality in the local language.”

TBC Uzbekistan comprises three high-growth fintech businesses operating in Uzbekistan: TBC UZ, a mobile-only bank; Payme, a digital payments app for individuals and small businesses; and Payme Nasiya (Payme Instalments), an instalment credit business. It has scaled up quickly and profitably since its launch in 2020, recording gross loans of USD 296 million and deposits of USD 216 million and posting net profit of USD 23 million for FY23.

Konstantin has previously worked at both startups and major tech companies across Europe, United Kingdom and the U.S. Early in his career he oversaw the development of major systems for equity analytics and algo trading at Deutsche Bank. Later on, Konstantin became Director of Smart Devices at Yandex, where he led the development of the smart speaker with voice assistant Alice, one of the world’s most popular voice assistants, in 2017. As the CEO of SberDevices, he built and led a 2,000-people strong team, whose voice assistant had 20 million monthly active users and millions of devices sold. At Tinkoff Digital, where Konstanin was CTO, he led the development of the company’s first real-time bidding technology, enhancing the digital bank’s customer acquisition.

Konstantin remains a founder of cutting-edge London-based AI-powered start-ups aiuta.com and aiphoria.ai, and will continue his work on these ventures in addition to his new role at TBC Uzbekistan. His dual focus will bring a unique blend of expertise and innovative thinking to TBC, driving forward the company’s AI initiatives while also fostering the growth and success of his startups.

Konstantin is based in London and will be dividing his time between London and Tashkent.