Thirteen-year-old Kirill Ulitin recently became the 1000th Obrazovatelnyi depositor at Kazakhstan's BTA Bank after his mother opened an account in his name.

Under the Obrazovatelnyi program, customers open a deposit for money that is to be used for future school tuition. After one year, the state contributes up to 7 percent with the stipulation that the funds can be used only for tuition. The money earns interest of up to 15.3 percent a year.

Headquartered in Almaty, BTA Bank is the third largest lender in the country. It provides a wide range of banking services to individuals, SMEs and corporate customers.

The bank's branch network includes 19 branches and more than 170 outlets around Kazakhstan.

BTA also has international representative offices in Russia, Great Britain and China, and banking networks in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey.
Its major shareholder is the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.