The President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has reportedly returned a previously adopted legislative bill aimed at improving the operations of payment system operators and payment organizations back to the parliament for revision. This unexpected development came to light during a session of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, signaling potential disagreements over the regulatory framework of the nation's financial sector.

The lower house of parliament had initially passed the legislation on June 10, 2025, with the Senate subsequently approving it on April 8, 2026. Following the standard legislative process, the document was forwarded for presidential signature, but instead faced a setback. Adham Nazirqulov, a member of the Committee on Innovative Development and Information Technologies, announced that the sectoral committee had reviewed the state leader's observations and concluded that further consideration of the bill is no longer appropriate.

During the parliamentary session, the proposal to withdraw the document from further review was put to a vote and supported by lawmakers without any notable discussion or questions raised. Notably, officials failed to disclose which specific provisions or norms triggered the president's objections, nor was there any clarification regarding whether a completely new draft law would be formulated to regulate the payment services market in the near future.

Previously, the legislation was touted as a major step toward enhancing payment security, combating financial fraud, and strengthening user protections. The rejected framework would have mandated strict organizational requirements, including forcing payment organizations to operate exclusively as joint-stock companies while raising minimum charter capital requirements significantly — up to 20 billion soms for payment organizations and 50 billion soms for payment system operators.

Source: www.gazeta.uz