Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, July 4, 2024 — Saison Investment Management Private Limited (SIMPL), the cross-border lending arm of Saison International, has signed an agreement to cooperate with Mongolia's first digitally focused bank M bank. The purpose of the loan agreement is to support the expansion of the bank’s lending portfolio specifically for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including individual retail borrowers, women-owned businesses as well as green loans.

SIMPL has financed M Bank’s operations based on the bank’s market participation, sustainable operations, innovative technology, and the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Globally, 131 million or 41% of formal MSMEs in developing countries have unmet financing needs. Women-owned businesses comprise 23% of MSMEs and account for 32% of the MSME finance gap. These figures indicate that there is an urgent need to support MSMEs and women-owned businesses, provide them with discounted loans, and create financing opportunities not only in Mongolia, but all over the world.

M bank will utilize the funds received from SIMPL to support MSME’s and women-owned SME’s, by improving their competitiveness in the marketplace and increasing their access to financial resources. Furthermore, M bank will work towards offering the most competative loan interest rate to it’s customers. 

 “M bank has continually been working with major representatives of the global financial sector, learning and introducing the expertise of these major foreign financial institutions, into our products and services in order to provide a more innovative, flexible, and personalized financial solutions for our customers.” said Temuulen Batmunkh, Deputy CEO of M bank. “We are also excited that this collaboration will further improve our digital lending capabilities and provide opportunities for MSMEs, women-owned businesses and individual retail borrowers in Mongolia.”

“We see tremendous potential in Mongolia as a market and are glad to be partnering with one of the most digitally driven banks, M Bank, to unlock better opportunities for businesses MSMEs, households, and people. This is in line with our ongoing efforts to work with strong partners in emerging and developing economies where we can create the greatest impact to bridge the underserved gap for financial inclusion and access, ”  said Claudia Rojas, Senior Vice President, Head of SIMPL

About Saison International and SIMPL

Saison International is a global financial company with a mission to bring people, partners and technology together, creating resilient and innovative financial solutions for positive impact. The company is committed to being a transformative partner in creating opportunities and enabling the dreams of people, across its business arms of lending, corporate venture capital and technology innovation.

Saison International is based in Singapore, with over 1,000 employees working across its global operations spanning Singapore, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, and Brazil. 

The company is the international headquarters of Credit Saison Co., Ltd., which was founded in 1951 and is one of Japan’s largest lending companies with over 25 million card holders in Japan. Credit Saison is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and has a Balance Sheet of US$27 billion. The company has evolved from a credit-card issuer to a diversified financial services provider with presence across five segments – payments, leasing, finance, real estate, and entertainment. 

Saison Investment Management Private Limited (SIMPL) is the cross-border lending arm of Saison International. SIMPL operates with a commitment to foster inclusive growth in emerging and frontier markets by providing debt financing to specialized financial services providers, early-stage and tech-enabled companies that operate at the intersection of inclusion and innovation in emerging and frontier markets such as Cambodia, Mongolia, and more.

For more information, visit https://saison-international.com and https://saison-international.com/saison-investment-management/

 About M bank

M bank has been growing at a rapid pace since obtaining its commercial banking license in February 2022. With total assets exceeding $200 million and nearly 40,000 borrowers as of December 2023, M bank is wholly owned by MCS Group, one of Mongolia’s largest conglomerate groups.  

M bank‘s key focus is to support the financial health of its customers with seamless and innovative financial and non-financial products and services delivered in an easier, comfortable and more accessible manner. As of the end of 2023, customers who use M bank as a priority bank totaled 230,000 for application users and 857 for business customers. In the future M bank will continue to strive to serve the most innovative and customer-centric products that fit everyone's lifestyle and financial needs. 

For more information, visit m-bank.mn