IPO To Drive Financial Inclusion Ambitions of AND Global’s Mongolian Subsidiary, LendMN www.fintechnews.sg

Singapore registered fintech startup AND Global today announces the upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of its Mongolian subsidiary LendMN, a smartphone-based instant lending service provider.

The IPO will launch on February 20, 2018 on the Mongolian Stock Exchange, following LendMN’s monumental success over the past year.

lendmnLendMN brings emergency loans to consumers who are either under-banked or are totally outside of the formal financial system. Since its soft launch in January 2017, the company has issued $9.5 million in loans to roughly 28,800 active borrowers.

Thanks to the region’s high demand for financial services coupled with the company’s highly capable AI algorithm, it has witnessed 70% month over month growth from its customer base in Mongolia. The LendMN platform currently distributes more than 1,500 loans per day with a repayment rate of approximately 98.2%, and boasts a 4.6 star rating in the Google Play store.

Less than one year since its commercial launch, LendMN will raise $2 million USD in a local IPO scheduled for February 20, 2018, with the intent to expand its service to the entire under-banked population within Mongolia. The company will issue 200 million shares in total, corresponding to a 25% stake in the total equity of the company. Strategic acquirers, including Seoul based Rhinos Asset Management, have announced their intents to purchase shares worth $1 million USD, for a 12.5% stake in the company.

With LendMN, access to a loan takes customers just 5 minutes on a mobile phone. Subsequent loans take less than 1 minute to process, making lending almost instantaneous. Credit limits can increase and monthly fees decrease for repeat customers depending on their repayment behaviors. What’s more, there is no interest rate — only a single fee for tech and service costs. The high repayment level is achieved using proprietary machine learning, which analyzes users data to calculate their capability to repay along with their willingness to pay.

In Mongolia, banks charge an average of 22.8% APR on loans requiring collateral, and loan sharks can charge upwards of 10% per week. This makes loans inaccessible and difficult to repay for thousands of people across the country. For this reason, LendMN offers its users a new level of financial freedom through a monthly fee without requiring them to post collateral or enduring sky-high interest rates.

“We are offering people convenient, fast, collateral-free loans that they can afford to pay back. With the introduction of our IPO we can bring our technology to more areas of the local market where so many have been forgotten, bringing banking to those who need it most,”

There are still 2 billion citizens throughout the world who do not have access to banking or accessible loans. Having achieved strong product market fit in Mongolia, AND Global hopes to eventually replicate this model to bring a suite of financial services for Japan, the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia.

Lendmn launches IPO www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ LendMN, the first pintech of Mongolian financial sector that based on artificial mind officially announced the launch of its IPO, holding bell ceremony on February 21 at the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE).

Ford executive leaves over inappropriate behaviour www.bbc.com

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Mongolian Foreign Minister flies to Tokyo www.news.mn

D. Tsogtbaatar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia flew to Tokyo on an official visit on 21 February.

Ulaanbaatar Railways to become part of the Russia-Mongolia-China economic corridor www.news.mn

Oleg Belozerov, head of Russian Railways informed the President of Mongolia about the plans to develop the infrastructure of Ulaanbaatar Railways in order to handle the growing transportation volumes. The major track overhaul planned in 2018 in particular will be double that of last year, while the modernisation of the transportation management system will be completed. As a result, the railway’s carrying capacity will be increased by 20%.

Cash-rich global miners eye India as coal sector opens up for private firms www.mining.com

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Mongolian currency strengthens against USD, Yuan www.xinhuanet.com.cn

ULAN BATOR, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The exchange rate of Mongolian national currency the Tugrik against U.S dollars has strengthened since Feb. 14, the Bank of Mongolia, Mongolia's central bank, said Tuesday.

Mongolia imported 19,000 tons of gasoline and 81,000 tons of diesel fuel in January www.akipress.com

AKIPRESS.COM - Mongolia imported 19,000 tons of gasoline in January 2018, according to the Statistics Division of the Mongolian Customs General Administration.

Mongolia-Argentina visa-free agreement comes into force www.xinhuanet.com.cn

ULAN BATOR, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A visa-free travel agreement between Mongolia and Argentina came into force on February 19, the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

Shifting from mining dependence to tourism-driven economy www.theubpost.mn

Tourism has the potential to become the main driver of the economy, and Mongolians should pay more attention to developing the industry instead of digging up resources underground to sell it to China and elsewhere.

In recent years, mining has been playing in a critical role in the national economy of Mongolia.

More than 80 percent of Mongolia’s exports were mineral products last year. This proportion is expected to rise in a few years’ time to 95 percent. Mongolia attracts mining geologists and investors due to its known riches and unexplored potential — for copper, coal, gold, silver, uranium, molybdenum. Some 3,476 mining licenses were issued by 2017, according to the statistics.

The Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine is the biggest foreign-invested project in Mongolia with its initial and second phase investment amounting to well above 10 billion USD. The mine is expected to become the world’s third-largest copper operation at peak production in 2025, with an output of over 550,000 tons per year. It is also expected to comprise a large portion of the country’s economy, well over a quarter.
Although the income from mining is increasing with the underground phase of the Oyu Tolgoi project’s in progress, the developments and riches coming into the nation has not reached the large majority of the population, only going to those in the mining sector and industries that complement it.

The International Monetary Fund data shows that the economy only grew one percent in 2016, a sharp drop since the 17.5 percent growth in 2011. This was mainly caused by vulnerability to external factors such as global commodity prices. To prevent future volatility, the country needs good policies and laws that bring long-term profit and business opportunity, not one-time cash handouts and short-term welfare. For instance, after pledges made during the 2008 elections, every Mongolian, rich and poor, received 21,000 MNT in cash handouts for many months, which left the country hungry for more while inflation rates soared giving additional burden to the most vulnerable groups in the country.

Mongolians shouldn’t forget that every economic sector has been receiving foreign loans to some degree and foreign debt has reached as much as 26.2 billion USD as of the third quarter of 2017, according to Mongol Bank.

So far, the public is critical of the benefits mining has brought the nation, becoming increasingly frustrated by the lackluster reach of the country’s development. Herders who rely on the land are increasingly growing hostile to mining development in their area as it drains local water reserves and leaves the environment degraded. Umnugovi is a prime example of this issue, where the major mining developments such as Oyu Tolgoi and Tavan Tolgoi are located. The few water reserves available in the area have become depleted and pollution caused by mass transport of mineral goods have severely degraded the grazing land.

Due to these issues related to mining, Mongolians are becoming disenchanted with the prospects offered by the extractive industry and are increasing looking to other industries to drive the economy.

Many are pointing to tourism as Mongolia’s salvation towards diversifying away from mining. Today, tourism is a major source of income for many countries.

In 2017, a total 542,989 foreign visitors came to Mongolia, with 471,239 coming for tourism purposes. The number of foreign visitors in Mongolia had increased by 71,750 (13.21 percent) in 2017 compared to 2016, and the number of tourists increased by 66,938 (14.21 percent). Currently, the Mongolian tourism is said to be worth at least 400 million USD.

The number of tourists has been fluctuating in recent years, but incremental improvements have been observed. This sluggish growth is nothing compared to the vast potential offered by Mongolia’s abundant natural attractions.

There are many beautiful sceneries and historic landmarks in every province, but tourists have been visiting only a few provinces – mainly Tuv, Uvurkhangai, Arkhangai, Umnugovi and Khuvsgul provinces. It is also important to note that tourists only head to Mongolia during summer, which means tourism companies struggle to sustain operations during colder months. According to latest data, there are around 200 tourism companies actively operating out of 713 registered entities. Over 50,000 people are said to work in the tourism industry of Mongolia.

When discussing the development of tourism, the service industry is of vital importance. Services of taxi companies, hotels, malls, roads, sanitary requirements, safety, and the management of wastes all around the country need to be improved and made friendly to foreign visitors in order to attract and convince them to come back.

Furthermore, winter tourism might be a key economic factor for boosting tourism in general throughout the year as Mongolia’s four seasons offer the potential for drastic growth in outdoor winter sports.

“If we want to try sustainable tourism, we need to have income coming in during all four seasons,” said, the former head of the Department of Tourism Policy Implementation and Coordination at the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Tourism.

In an attempt to increase tourists coming into the country during winter, Mongolia has been boosting efforts to develop winter attractions in recent years.