Mongolia

If ever there was a bank that wore its mission statement on its proverbial forehead, it’s the one over which Naranbaatar Radnaa presides. All it takes is walking through the front door of the bank’s modest Ulaanbaatar headquarters to see that sustainability permeates everything Arig does.

Since October 2016, Otgonbayar Munkhtogoo, chief executive of TransBank, has cut an aggressive figure in Ulaanbaatar financial circles.

It’s hard to think of any four-year-old company that’s shaken up Mongolia’s financial sector more than LendMN. The fintech sensation’s start in 2015 is the stuff of legend: Anar Chinbaatar and two similarly successful friends – including chief executive Boldbaatar Ochirsuren – became so tired of buddies asking to borrow cash that they figured: why not make the dynamic official?

Any objective look at the economic landscape in Mongolia suggests it is a place where private banking shouldn’t exist, much less thrive. It has long been an esoteric pursuit in a frontier market that lacks a deep stream of affluent customers. Per-capita income is all of $4,100.

In 2020, Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia will celebrate both a birthday and a milestone. As the nation’s oldest bank turns 30, its trajectory also speaks to the growing sophistication of a financial sector that has had a decidedly rocky few years. It is only just over two years since a small army of IMF staffers pounced on Ulaanbaatar to remind investors about the risks of boom-and-bust cycles – and the dire need to diversify away from mining.

No financial institution better traces Mongolia’s event-rich journey from herding and farming hinterland to thriving frontier economy than Khan Bank.

Bailed out by the IMF to the tune of $5.5 billion, the country hopes to break free of the programme in 2020, but flaws in its financial sector mean that going it alone will be risky.

Corporate social responsibility permeates everything Arig does. It is a stable and high-quality institution with roots that date back to 1997, making it one of the country’s oldest lenders, and with branches dotted around the big cities. But it is in the world of CSR that Arig really shines.

Founded in 2001 and partly owned by the International Finance Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, XacBank has always been the go-to bank in Mongolia for small and medium-sized enterprises.