Golomt Bank
Mongolia’s big financial institutions are defined almost by design. All are full-service lenders, but while Khan Bank specializes in retail lending and XacBank in serving SMEs, two other outfits – Golomt Bank and Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia – lavish their attention on Mongolia’s big corporates.
Of the pair, Golomt has the edge over TDB this year. The bank reckons it serves more than 80% of Mongolia’s large companies, many of which are all-purpose conglomerates, with interests ranging from telecoms and food production to construction and mining.
Founded in 1995, Golomt has consistently maintained its status as a stable lender of considerable systemic value to the frontier state. Its business is split evenly, with corporate clients making up 49% of its total loan book, while SME and retail clients making up the remainder.
The Ulaan Baatar-based outfit, a top-three lender in terms of total assets, net loans and total deposits, reported net interest income of $47 million in the full year 2017, up 43% from 2016. Total assets increased 12% on an annualized basis in 2017 over 2016, to a little over $2 billion.
But what makes Golomt Bank really stand out, beyond its dominance in corporate banking, is its desire to improve itself from within.
Allegations of unreported loans and hidden defaults in 2014 led to a period of introspection, and Golomt has emerged a better bank; it is currently working with the IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank, to further strengthen its corporate governance.
“In terms of governance, it is much improved, and is actually better than its rivals,” says the chief executive of a rival lender.