Financial Efficiency of Bank Payment and Settlement Services: Implications for Adaptive Pricing in Uzbekistan

This study examines the financial performance of payment and settlement services in five commercial banks in Uzbekistan during 2021–2025 and develops implications for adaptive pricing. The analysis combines 25 annual bank-level observations of the net monetisation margin with detailed revenue and expense data for Xalq Bank and Turonbank. Comparative analysis and accounting decomposition identify substantial differences across banks. The margin declined from 89.18% to 26.89% at Mikrokreditbank, from 57.29% to 21.70% at Kapitalbank, and from 60.65% to 38.51% at Turonbank. Xalq Bank recorded an increase from 86.46% to 91.18%, while the Business Development Bank retained a comparatively high margin. At Turonbank, nominal service revenue increased by 63.00%, whereas associated expenses rose by 154.73%; consequently, the service contribution increased by only 3.48%. These findings motivate a proposed pricing mechanism combining service costs, stable account balances and transaction activity, subject to a cost recovery floor. The evidence supports the need for bank-specific pricing diagnostics; it does not establish a causal effect of adaptive pricing on profitability.