Post Conference Report of Invest Mongolia Tokyo on November 24 www.frontier.mn

I am very pleased to announce that 5th Invest Mongolia Tokyo has successfully finished on November 24, 2017. The event has attracted about 37 speakers and 280 attendees from 10 countries and 205 organizations.

Invest Mongolia Tokyo aimed to address following opportunities, risks and concerns that have been put forward by the investment communities from Mongolia, Japan and other nations.
Through the presentations and panels, participants have gained the opportunities to understand different angles of approaches from politicians, authorities, banks, lawyers and investors. At the same time, exchanging the ideas with others during breaks and the networking events have been very stimulating for them.
The conference was well received by participants because of following reasons.
First of all, with the implementation of IMF program and the stable currency, the economic condition in Mongolia has started to pick up finally. And, the sense of the bottoming out of the economy were shared both by the authorities in Mongolia and the Japanese investors. 
Secondly, the conference was timely because it was held at the time just after the Party Congress of the Mongolian Peoples’ Party has selected Khurelsukh as the head of the party. The fact that the same person will act the party head and the Prime Minister was welcomed by Japanese investors because they believed the policies of the Government will be stable until 2020. 
Thirdly, Frontier has successfully invited many key decision makers, opinion leaders and investors to the conference.
So, participants could get the most updated perspectives of

The strong commitment by Japanese Government through IMF program to Mongolia and the favorable political and economic outlook between Mongolia and Japan in 2018
The current economic condition in Mongolia, monetary policy of the central bank and the resilience of the economy even with the vulnerability of the coal business.
The still weak impact of EPA and the necessity to modify it to accommodate the business demands.
The opportunities and risks for Japanese small to mid-sized corporations to do business in Mongolia.
The investment opportunities in various sectors (especially in banking, NBFI, mining, telecom and sovereign) in Mongolia.
The legal developments in Banking and Finance Sector in Mongolia.
The strong interest by Mongolian Government to improve the investment climate.
Lastly, I would like to thank the supporting organizations. The conference was supported by Government of Mongilia, JICA, JETRO and many others. Also, Melville Erdenedalai, Khangarid Properties, Oriental Invest and others have supported the event. Without their commitments, the conference could not be materialized..

We want to organize the event annually and want to come back to Tokyo in December 2018. So, we welcome more active participation to the event from each of you next year.
Thank you very much for attending the conference.

Please click HERE to view Post Conference Report

Best Regard,

Masa Igata
Founder & CEO
Frontier Securities

Bitcoin slump sees trades suspended on certain exchanges www.bbc.com

Bitcoin plunged on Friday, extending a fall that saw the crypto-currency lose almost a third of its value from a record of nearly $20,000 (£15,000).

The crypto-currency's price dipped below $11,000 on Friday, according to the Coindesk exchange website, before recovering to above $13,000.

Amid the swings, three Bitcoin-related exchanges suspended certain trades.

Bitcoin has had a blistering trip over the past 12 months. Its price at the start of the year was about $1,000.

It has skyrocketed since - more than doubling in value since November - drawing interest from major firms as well as private investors.

But since Sunday Bitcoin has been on a losing streak, falling back to where it was at the start of December.

Analysts said investors should be prepared for such rapid changes, which have characterised the asset from its start.

"This is exactly how this asset trades and has done since the beginning," said Nick Colas, co-founder of New York-based DataTrek Research. "It has a lot of volatility and it will for the foreseeable future."

What happened on Friday?
This week's plunge led to a flood of trades that swamped one of Bitcoin's major exchanges, Coinbase, on Friday. A technical slowdown prompted the firm to halt buying and selling twice.

'Be ready to lose your money'
The CME and CBOE exchanges in the US also temporarily suspended trading of certain Bitcoin futures contracts, which allow investors to bet on where they expect the price of Bitcoin to be at certain points in the future.

The exchanges have automatic brakes that apply once a commodity or asset has moved by a certain amount - as happened in this case.

What sparked the slump?
The market remains driven by sentiment, according to Charles Hayter, founder and chief executive of industry website Cryptocompare.

"A manic upward swing led by the herd will be followed by a downturn as the emotional sentiment changes," he said.

Some traders would have been cashing in on the spectacular gains made over the year, he added.

Concerns about the infrastructure behind crypto-assets may also be spooking investors, said Nick Colas, himself a Bitcoin trader.

In recent weeks, markets have been rattled by hacks and allegations of insider trading.

He attributes some of this week's slump to the launch of a new crypto-asset that came earlier than planned. The surprise temporary shutdown of Coinbase on Friday was the kind of thing that could erode investor confidence, he argued.

"It is not OK to just take trading offline randomly through the day," he said. "The robustness of that system is just as important to their confidence... as the price of crypto-currencies themselves."

A spokesman for Coinbase said the firm was working around the clock to ensure smooth trading. Friday's suspensions lasted for about two hours in total.

"We're doing everything within our power," the spokesman said.

What exactly is Bitcoin?
A digital asset, Bitcoin is not backed by any governments. It is created through a complex process known as "mining", and then monitored by a network of computers across the world.

There is a steady stream of about 3,600 new Bitcoins a day, with more than 16.5 million now in circulation. Supply is expected to peak at about 21 million.

Every single transaction is recorded in a public list called the blockchain.

This makes it possible to trace the history of Bitcoins to stop people from spending coins they do not own, making copies or undoing transactions.

What are authorities saying about Bitcoin?
Regulators around the world have stepped up their warnings about its provenance as an investment.

One of this week's most striking comments came from Denmark's central bank governor, who called it a "deadly" gamble.

Earlier this month, the head of one of the UK's leading financial regulators warned people to be ready to "lose all their money" if they invested in Bitcoin.

Andrew Bailey, head of the Financial Conduct Authority, told the BBC that neither central banks nor the government stood behind the "currency" and therefore it was not a secure investment.

Despite the risk to individuals, US authorities have said they do not think it is a big enough part of financial markets to be a threat to broader economic stability.

Mongolia central bank cut key interest rate to 11 percent www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Monetary Policy Council of the Bank of Mongolia announced on Friday to cut its benchmark interest rate from 12 percent to 11 percent due to positive changes in the Mongolian economy.

TerraCom reaches production levels www.news.com.au

TerraCom's two operating mines in Australia (Blair Athol Thermal Coal Mine) and Mongolia (BNU Coking Coal Mine) are now producing at name plate production levels.

To date short and long term contracts have underpinned the coal produced. The market remains strong in both sectors with coking coal prices and thermal coal prices in respective markets looking to remain strong for 2018.
The first 58 hectares of rehabilitation at Blair Athol Mine has been completed as per forecast.

Coal loading resumes at Tavan Tolgoi deposit www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Coal loading has resumed at Tavan Tolgoi deposit, reported corresponding officials on December 21.

Fitch gives Rio Tinto a 'Positive' outlook www.mongolia.gogo.mn

Credit agency Fitch Ratings has upgraded Rio Tinto’s outlook to Positive from Stable.

Rio Tinto's long-term issuer default rating has been reaffirmed at A-. Fitch noted that revision was due to the company’s significant absolute debt reduction, which dropped by 7.8 billion USD from the end of 2015 to June 30, 2017.
Fitch predicts that the price of raw materials will be stable, and that free cash flow will be allocated to Rio Tinto's shareholders and that it will increase capital expenditure on high-value projects.
It was noted that Rio Tinto’s financial policy for the next one to three years will play an important role in further revisions. Share prices for Rio Tinto on the Australian Stock Exchange have been increasing by two percent since early December 2017.

Value of top 50 mining companies surge $140 billion in 2017 www.mining.com

Heading into 2018 the world's 50 largest listed firms are worth a collective $896 billion, adding $141 billion in combined market capitalization year-to-date, with the bulk of those gains recorded since July.

Forum ‘Climate Investment Partnership' takes place in Ulaanbaatar www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ A forum titled ‘Climatic investment partnership’ was organized on December 19 in Ulaanbaatar city to hold contacts between investors and businessmen who finance projects and programs to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Ulaanbaatar city.

Visa-free travel to Argentina for Mongolian citizens www.news.mn

Mongolian passport holders have been granted visa-free entry to Argentina for stays of up to 90 days. The Cabinet backed the visa free agreement between Mongolia and Argentina on 20 December. Mongolia established diplomatic relations with Argentina on 7 December 1971.

Mongolia, Macao sign agreement on transfer of sentenced persons www.akipress.com

AKIPRESS.COM - Mongolia and the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) of the People Republic of China signed an agreement on the transfer of sentenced persons on December 15.