IFC Provides $30M To M Bank To Increase Digital Lending In Mongolia

IFC will provide up to $30 million in financing to M bank, with twenty-five percent of the funding earmarked for SMEs owned by women. As part of the program, IFC has been working with M bank to expand its SME finance and supply chain finance products and services. IFC will also provide technical guidance to help M bank further develop and implement an environmental and social management system.

SMEs, of which two-thirds are women-owned in Mongolia, account for about 70 percent of the country's workforce and 17.8 percent of GDP. Yet access to finance for SMEs in the country remains challenging with only about half of them receiving financing support from banks. According to the World Bank Enterprise Surveys in 2019, 31 percent of surveyed firms in Mongolia face full credit constraints, surpassing the average for other countries in the East Asia and Pacific region.

M bank has rapidly grown 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 companies, and has a goal to grow by leveraging MCS Group's franchise across the country.

In Mongolia, IFC has provided $345 million in financing and technical advice to local financial institutions in the past five years.