April 9, 2020
Comment from Boris Batine, CEO of ID Finance on pending payment days to investors on Mintos
First, in relation to my communication of 7th April, thank you for your kind understanding of the situation we find ourselves in, with states of emergency in Kazakhstan, Spain and Mexico and the resultant impact on our loan service schedules.
Many of you have raised questions about our decision to pay interest irrespective of whether we receive it from our customers. I can assure you that our liquidity cushion is strong and sufficient to make this commitment to our investors. You can always send your questions to [email protected] or [email protected].
In this communication, I would like to address the issue of how Pending Payments are presented in the Mintos statistics on their website.
Here are the important points you should bear in mind:
1. The current calculations of Pending Payments do not account for the states of emergency and their effect on loan service schedules. Integration between our system and Mintos (or API exchange) was not built to account for the government measures we are currently seeing. As a consequence, loans extended due to government measures are currently being shown as “Pending”.
2. Due to this IT integration issue, we have temporarily switched to manual reconciliations with Mintos, and the amounts due will be settled twice a week, as communicated previously.
3. As a leading fintech company in the P2P crowdlending space, Mintos has substantial processes and IT infrastructure underlying the stream of loans from end-customer to loan originator to Mintos and finally to Mintos investors.
4. This infrastructure needs to be adjusted for the new states of emergency. In collaboration with Mintos, we are currently working on synching our IT for the new circumstances, so that the right amounts are calculated automatically.
5. You should expect changes in the Pending Payments amounts in the coming weeks as we work with Mintos to ensure it correctly reflects the new states of emergency.
Let’s help each other to make it through these difficult days with as little strain and loss as possible and come out of the experience stronger and more resilient. Thank you for your support and patience.
April 7, 2020
Dear investors on Mintos,
We are living in extraordinary times. Not since World War II has the World been affected so entirely as by the COVID-19 pandemic. National governments are imposing quarantines and introducing extraordinary measures to protect the population. The result of these measures is widespread economic disruption. Our industry is no exception.
The situation at IDF Eurasia
In Kazakhstan, the President declared a state of emergency on March 15 (No285 decree) and has adopted a number of urgent steps (No286 decree from March 16) to tackle the economic and social impact. Aimed at protecting people in a situation of economic downturn, a moratorium on consumer and business loans was introduced by Decree No167 on March 26 which applies to all the outstanding loans in the country.
The situation at ID Finance
In Spain, the Government declared a state of alarm on March 14th and in recent weeks has adopted a number of urgent steps to tackle the economic and social impact. Aimed at protecting people in a situation of economic downturn, a moratorium to non- mortgage loans, impacting consumer loans, was introduced by Royal-Decree Law 11/2020.
The situation in Mexico is also challenging. Last week the Mexican Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) issued the Circular 016/2020 announcing that the borrowers are eligible for payment holidays of up to six months. On March 30th, the Mexican Government formally declared a state of a health emergency.
What to expect further on
At ID Finance and IDF Eurasia, we pride ourselves on our responsible lending practices and work to promote the financial well-being of our customers. We are therefore supportive of and will act in full compliance with these measures. This is an important step in building a sustainable long-term business. So in accordance with new legislation, we grant our customers the suspension of interest and principal repayments for the relevant period.
Unfortunately, these changes in loans servicing schedules will impact those investors on Mintos who have invested in loans issued by IDF Eurasia, IDFinance Spain, and IDF CAPITAL (ID Finance Mexico). A large portion of loans will be extended beyond their original schedule. We will continue to service these loans in-line with the prolonged repayment schedules. The payment amounts will be updated and, to avoid large pending sums, settled twice a week with Mintos.
Moreover, we will pay interest as normal (even when such interest is not received from the respective customers). This measure together with more frequent settlements will ensure that your investment will continue to generate its original interest income.
We also assure you that once these government measures are over, we expect the credit portfolio will return to its original schedule, and the buyback guarantee will remain in place for delinquent loans.
Like you all, I look forward to the day soon when economies stabilise, and our lives can return to normal. Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, you can contact us at [email protected] and [email protected].
Yours faithfully,
Boris Batine
