We are in close contact with the lending companies on Mintos. As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue influencing businesses and people globally, companies are working to modify, adjust and put in place different solutions that will ease the effects of the pandemic.
Many companies are sharing announcements for their clients and investors, and we will be adding these announcements here, with updates over the next days.
Announcements:
1. ESTO: “Taking active steps in managing the increased demand”
2. ID Finance: “Committed to transparent and sustainable business; holding a public webinar on March 19, 2020”
3. Creditstar: “A strong competitive advantage”
4. Akulaku: “No major operational and financial impact from the virus. Growth and performance according to expectations.”
5. Sun Finance: Fully prepared to react and succeed in a continuously changing landscape.
6. A note from Cashwagon CEO, Maxim Chernuschenko
7. Watu Credit’s update on the business situation
8. Letter from Capitalia’s CEO, Juris Grišins
9. Letter from Rapicredit’s CEO, Daniel A. Materon
10. Letter from Capital Service’s Vice President, Ovais Siddiqui
11. An announcement from IuteCredit’s Group CEO, Tarmo Sild
12. Message to investors on Mintos from Mogo’s board
13. Zenka Finance: Our agility and advanced technological solutions are our response to coronavirus disease
14. Kviku’s announcement to the investors on Mintos
15. Announcement from AgroCredit to investors on Mintos
16. FINITERA takes care of sustainable business practice in Balkans
17. Dozarplati: Stability and sustainable growth
18. A note from Creditter during the current times
19. Moneyboat (Evergreen Finance): Taking steps to protect our investors and enhance opportunities
20. DelfinGroup’s announcement of the current market situation
21. An official announcement from ExpressCredit regarding the current situation
22. Update about COVID-19 from Wowwo’s CFO, Kurt Akyüz
23. MyBucks S.A. (GetBucks) informs investors on Mintos regarding Covid-19
24. Announcement from Kredit Pintar about the current situation
25. SOS Credit responses to recent local and global developments
26. Melivesa Holding (E-cash): “We remain sustainable to Global Challenges”
27. StikCredit CEOs message to investors on Mintos
28. DineritoXtra’s announcement regarding the global spread of COVID-19
29. COVID-19 — An update and message from the Credissimo Group CEO
March 17th, 2020
ESTO: “Taking active steps in managing the increased demand”
ESTO would like to inform our partners at Mintos of the steps we have taken during this turbulent time. ESTOs main strategy at the moment is liquidity from the issued book and to extend our capital runway to maximum period. Therefore we have taken the following steps:
1. We keep high liquidity rate with potential to repay some of the loans to keep our capital costs down.
2. We have tightened our scoring filters with multiple additional checkpoints. We have stopped issuance to certain sectors and profiles.
3. We have cut issuance and credit limits for credit accounts. ESTO believes in taking active steps in managing the increased demand by taking issuance down instead of raising.
4. ESTO jump-started overviewing collections policies and managing cashflow with extended client communication.
5. ESTO is working at 100% capacity from home offices since last Friday.
6. We believe that all companies should be extra careful with current issuance and that liquidity is vital. ESTO has taken steps what are quickly reversible and we can start to scale again when the time is right.
March 17th, 2020
ID Finance: “Committed to transparent and sustainable business; holding a public webinar on March 19, 2020”
To Our Valued Investors and Partners,
Since the start of the year, we have been closely following the COVID-19 progression and proactively ensuring the continuity of our business as well as the safety and well-being of our employees and stakeholders. Despite the development of the virus, our team is committed to maintaining the high delivery standards of our products and services, continuing to support our customers.
ID Finance will remain open and we are modifying global and local processes in order to guarantee our employees safety while ensuring our business remains fully operational.
Our employees across Europe are being encouraged to work remotely for the next few weeks. Our infrastructure is fully capable of supporting this rearrangement and our people are following protocols to maintain the security, confidentiality and business performance.
At ID Finance we are committed to building a sustainable and transparent business. We will hold a webinar this Thursday, March 19th at 5 pm CET.
Boris Batine, CEO and Со-Founder at ID Finance, will cover the following topics and answer any of your questions:
– Overview of 2019 results
– Preliminary Q1 2020 results
– Business continuity measures and risk management
– Q&A
You can also send your questions ahead of the webinar to [email protected]. The link to the webinar will be posted on our website: idfinance.com, as well as in socials.
These uncertain times have not affected our dedication or commitment. More than ever, we are committed and extremely proud of how our employees have risen to this challenge.
We wish you, your families and loved ones, and everyone at your company, good health and continued success. Thank you for your business and partnership.
Boris Batine
CEO and Со-Founder
ID Finance
March 17th, 2020
Creditstar: “A strong competitive advantage”
Dear Investors and other Stakeholders,
I am writing to you to provide an update regarding Creditstar’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19). Our team is monitoring the situation closely and have precautions in place to ensure that the health of our people and the health of our business is well maintained and risk scenarios are being constantly monitored. As of now, Creditstar is maintaining a healthy course for business growth. At Creditstar we understand that these can be challenging times for everyone. Not only are people concerned for their health, but it is, understandably, a disorientating time for P2P investors. However, the message from Creditstar is to keep calm and capitalise on higher interest levels offered by loan originators. Here’s how we recommend investors to navigate financially through these uncertain times.
What Creditstar is doing
We are in an advantageous position as we have the experience of how to deal with our loan portfolio clients during the time of crisis, as we successfully came through the financial crisis of 2008. Our experience is that being proactive with clients and offering reasonable flexibility results in a win-win situation for both our business in terms of loan portfolio quality and customers in terms of paying their loan payments on time.
How we are helping our customers:
– favourable terms on grace periods and extensions
– discounts on fees
– flexibility with modifying repayment schedules to make smaller monthly instalments
– we have extended the soft (in-house) collection period in order to postpone hard collection in most cases during the crisis
– we are in the middle of rolling out free grace periods offering to frontline health-care workers who are responding to coronavirus
– we keep the credit lines opened for our repeat customers to provide them back-up money during the time of need
As we understand that these can be challenging times for our clients, we are doing all of the abovementioned initiatives to strengthen our client relationships and to help our clients through these difficult times.
Government Stimulus Measures
We are monitoring our target countries’ governments, who have revealed a range of stimulus policies and measures, in response to the growing threat presented to the economies by COVID-19. These stimulus measures, which are likely to be expanded in the near future, are aimed at assisting both consumers and businesses to cope with the effects of the quarantine measures to the economy.
What we recommend to P2P investors
We believe in the power of people and know that we’re stronger together. We also believe that now is not the time for us to panic and leave our customers out in cold, rather, keep calm, be reasonable, flexible and create a win-win situation. This is exactly what we recommend our P2P investors also to do – keep investing in loans and earning higher interest rates that the loan originators, including Creditstar, are currently offering. We understand that P2P investors seek a good return on investment. With P2P investors funding we can do more in supporting our regular clients in difficult times. If the funds are withdrawn from the platforms, funds for our clients will also be limited. This is a chance to do good while also earning higher returns. It is up to all of us to hold together to get successfully through these turbulent times.
Creditstar’s pending payments on Mintos platform
We have received questions from investors in regards our recent pending payments on Mintos platform. We are open to explain. After the Estonian government declared an emergency on 13th of March, Creditstar saw a surge from repeat customers applying for additional credit on their Monefit credit lines. At the time, our IT exchange with Mintos platform worked in a way that in all cases of any additional credit taken by the customer, we re-purchased the previous credit amount fully from the platform and reloaded the whole amount to the platform to be newly invested in, but in reality, these loans were actually not fully repaid by the customers but eligible customers were issued more credit within the credit limit. We have a similar issue in other countries with customer extensions, whereby our IT system integration currently does not support the extension API and loans that in reality are extended by the customer are fully re-purchased from the platform, but the customer has extended the loan and not repaid the loan amount.
During these weeks, our IT team has been working around the clock to repair this information exchange issue and make sure that the loans that are unpaid by the customers are not rebought from the platform, so we can reduce the amount of pending payments. We aim to release the improvements soon and we hope that this has not caused too much trouble to our investors and can guarantee our team is cooperating with the platform to solve these issues as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience, continued investments and stay well,
Team Creditstar
Stay well and kind regards,
Aaro Sosaar
CEO
Creditstar
March 18th, 2020
Akulaku: “No major operational and financial impact from the virus. Growth and performance according to expectations.”
From the data gathered over the last 6 weeks, there has not been any material impact from Coronavirus on Akulaku’s overall operation. As can be seen from our operational data, we have maintained monthly growth of around 10% and reached over 5m credit clients.
China’s Coronavirus outbreak occurred around 22nd Jan, at that time most of Akulaku’s core employees who were staying in Indonesia long term had gone back to China for the Lunar New Year holiday. On 26th Jan, the CEO of Akulaku, concerned about Indonesia government potentially blocking Chinese from entering into Indonesia, proceed with an emergency recall of all core employees back to Indonesia from China. By 2nd Feb, 97% of core employees were back to Indonesia from China. Subsequently, on 4th Feb, the Indonesia government banned all flights from the Chinese mainland. Due to our prompt action, the ban had little impact on the stability of Akulaku’s operation and the core team remained in Indonesia.
For employees of Akulaku in the Chinese mainland, following government regulation, they were not allowed to go back to the office before 24th Feb. Therefore, all the research & development and back end employees were only back to work from 3rd March onwards. As Akulaku mainland employees are mainly in the R&D department, the work from home policy did not have any effects on the operation of Akulaku.
Indonesia currently has around 180 Coronavirus cases (as of 18th Mar) and the number of cases is still relatively small compared with other countries, due to the timely action of the Indonesia government to block borders. Indonesia has now additionally banned visitors from Japan, Korea, Italy etc. Currently, the virus is under control and no major outbreak is anticipated in the country. From the operational and business perspective, activities are stable and we have not seen much impact on the collection and customer repayment.
In conclusion, we think that thus far the impact from the virus has been minimal and we continue to maintain good growth. However, we will continue to vigilantly monitor the situation and any potential impact on our business.
March 18th, 2020
Sun Finance: Fully prepared to react and succeed in a continuously changing landscape.
Following the recent developments related to COVID-19 globally, we at Sun Finance feel a responsibility to update our investors on the current state of business, internal policies, precautions and plan going forward. While the current situation is unprecedented, we are certain that we are well-positioned to come out the other side as strong as ever.
As part of our update, we wanted to highlight some key areas and measures taken to ensure well run business operations, while keeping the health and wellbeing of our people as our key priority.
- Business update:
- We have not observed any worsening in payment discipline. We see that our customers across all markets are following their payment schedules as usual
- We are seeing an increasing demand in some markets, allowing us to adjust cut-offs and work with better customer groups
- We can receive and make all payments without any physical presence. Thus, we can sustain fully operational business even in the strictest lock-down scenarios
- As such, now and in the near future, we are expecting to experience further portfolio dynamics improvement
Overview:
- Employees: Health of our employees is of the highest priority to us – after all, our employees are what makes our business so strong. We have taken the necessary measures to limit the potential contagion risks to a minimum. As a fintech company, inherently driven by technology, we are able to quickly and seamlessly adapt our operations to remote working conditions. In each of our operating countries, we are closely monitoring the situation day by day and fully abide by all local government initiatives. As such, our daily operations have not been impacted in the slightest and we are able to conduct business as usual
- Funding update: Our funding remains strong and diversified. As always, we have seen diversified funding as a key part of our operations, thus we remain efficient and flexible in terms of funding sources and options. In addition to funding from Mintos investors, we have successfully issued Bonds in the total volume of €10m as well as attracted junior Bonds in form as subordinated debt in the total volume of €24m, giving us a strong equity base
- Payments to Mintos investors: We want to take this opportunity to reassure our investors that our payment discipline has not changed in light of recent developments. We are actively working to ensure that all payments to Mintos investors are made in a timely manner, however, some payments might take longer due to adjusted bank operations and other matters out of our control. We would like to reiterate that investor trust is of utmost importance to us and we are working to resolve any pending payments as soon as possible, but there are moving parts beyond our control so please bear with us
- Risks & data science: Our risk and data science department consists of 30 people and has been actively working and preparing for potential distress scenarios for a couple of months already and now we are able to see their work come to fruition, making us feel very confident. We have reviewed our limit and cut-off strategies and taken all necessary measures to further improve the quality of our loan portfolio
Sun Finance is operating in many geographies, spread across 14 time zones, highlighting our diversified business operations, limiting risks posed by each individual market. As previously reported, we finished 2019 in a strong manner, with revenues above €100m and reaching €5.9m in net profits. Indicative Q1’2020 results, based on the first two months and half of March, are expected to deliver, once again, record quarterly revenues and profitability and we expect to maintain this course over the coming periods.
Stay safe in these turbulent times,
Toms Jurjevs
Founder & CEO
Sun Finance
March 18th, 2020
A note from Cashwagon CEO, Maxim Chernuschenko
Dear Mintos Investor,
During these turbulent times, we have noticed a number of Investors exiting from their portfolios, but what looks like an uncertain situation for one, turns out to be a great opportunity for the other. In the APAC-region, we see healthy demand for short-term loans, our sales in the markets of the APAC-region are respectively growing. Even though our risk levels have been stable over the past 6 months, as a precautionary measure, we have decided to take some immediate measures in order to keep our business healthy:
- We have switched our sales to extra short-term loans (10-20 days)
- We have tightened our credit and risk policies, minimising possible default fluctuations
- We have stress-tested our on-line repayment channels, and in some countries broadened the list of partners
- Our IT-team has performed load tests and made sure our infrastructure is fully operable
- Our customer support is online 24/7 and operating remotely from homes
We do not see any deterioration in customer behaviour, most recent matured vintages (end of February disbursements) show good performance in line with historical trends (please refer to the graph below).
We are committed to sustaining growth during this time of uncertainty, and we are currently offering a competitive 20% to our loyal investors. This is a perfect opportunity to earn higher rewards on your investment and remember that all loans listed and available for investment on Mintos are secured with a buyback guarantee by the Group’s holding company Cashwagon Pte. Ltd. (Singapore). Cashwagon, being the first company from the APAC-region on Mintos, has a positive 16-month history on Mintos, having paid more than 1.5 mln euros in interest to our valued Investors. At Cashwagon we value our reputation on the investment arena and are committed to maintaining this track record.
Cashwagon Founder/CEO
Maxim Chernuschenko
March 18th, 2020
Watu Credit’s update on the business situation
Valued Watu Credit partner!
We acknowledge that the current situation is bringing uncertainties and concerns into all our lives are personal or professional. Watu Credit team continuously monitors the situation in Kenya and have in place business continuity plan should implementation of this plan needs to be triggered.
At the moment of writing this release, there are no government restrictions in place that would have an adverse effect on our operations. The situation, however, remains fluid and we are ready to adjust on very short notice.
Wellbeing – safety and health of our staff and customers remain our main priority; therefore, all our branches have been equipped with hand sanitizing dispensers and liquid, and social distancing is required. We carefully follow the advice of the public health authorities and shall take additional measures as directed.
Service – at the moment we continue uninterrupted full-service provision and provide the standard service level to all our customers. This includes both financing new motorbikes and customer relationship management, including customer repayments.
Commercials – as always, we are carefully monitoring customer repayment patterns and at present repayment revenue stream is not affected.
Watu Credit will continue to adjust to the situation in progress and will update on any crucial business decision.
March 18th, 2020
Letter from Capitalia’s CEO, Juris Grišins
Dear investors,
About active loans
We have contacted all our clients in order to understand, how clients evaluate their situation and immediate impact from Coronavirus as well as the preventive measures enforced by the local governments. For all clients that seek assistance and have an immediate impact, we are providing one-month interest-only payment extensions. In cases where one month is not enough, we do a standard reevaluation and committee approval about the rescheduling of a loan.
About new loans
We continue full operations and will be providing investment opportunities for you. It is expected that the demand for working capital business financing will increase in the current market. We keep our financing standards at the highest and expect to see even more established and reputable businesses seeking alternative financing solutions in the upcoming period. In some short-term financing instances, we might offer a buy-back guarantee to Mintos investors.
About Capitalia team
We are taking all necessary measures and all Capitalia employees are working from home to ensure continuity and full capacity to manage active loan portfolio as well as evaluate new projects worth investing.
Edit (24.03.2020.)
We have contacted all of our clients and have identified an impact on their business from the pandemic. 9.71% of the clients asked for loan extension in Lithuania, 16.72% in Latvia and 9.5% in Estonia. All clients, except for one have been able to cover the interest payment for the extension period. No new loan defaults have occurred thus far. We have compiled a list of available state support in each country and are actively consulting clients on the use of such, as well as on the application of other cost-cutting measures.
Juris Grišins
manager
March 18th, 2020
Letter from Rapicredit’s CEO, Daniel A. Materon
Dear Investors and other stakeholders,
We want to provide an update regarding Rapicredit.com’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19). First and foremost, is our clients and people; we are ensuring their wellbeing and focusing our message in 4 key messages:
- Reinforce “social distancing”
- Reduce “viral charge”, implementing basic health recommendations
- Alleviate impacts to health infrastructure, following government guidelines
- Reduce economic impact and keep the economy moving
Notwithstanding that our thoughts around the situation is less pessimistic/negative than what we are observing worldwide, we feel responsible to be monitoring the situation and adapt to changing conditions.
Actions to date:
– We have reduced tickets for new customers from COP 250k to COP 200K.
– Our risk model is biased towards employees and people in recurring long-term jobs.
– As money is our primary “raw material”, we continue to search for new/additional sources to make sure we will be able to fulfil our business plan.
– As of last week, 100% of our team is working from home with no difficulties.
– Last but not least, currently the company has a pretty decent position in cash.
Most of management team members have more than 20 years of experience in financial and insurance markets. “Crisis” has been a common word in their working experience.
As at any time, we are actively collecting client repayments. We do not currently notice any decreases in planned incoming funds. We are setting up contingency plans in our call-centres, making sure that we keep very high standards for the reminder and collection processes. We are reviewing our policies for providing needed flexibility with debt repayment schedules if needed.
Our lending volumes are now the highest of our history and in line with our expectations and business plan. We are constantly reviewing our affordability and creditworthiness checks to take into account the latest economic circumstances as they unravel.
We have reached out to all our key partners, providers and suppliers to guarantee their services are sustained.
We understand that Covid19 will change our clients’ lives in both positive and negative ways. These challenging times for all our communities imply a big responsibility for all financial market participants.
We are focusing ourselves in strengthening repeated customer relationships and helping new customers during these difficult times. Doing this at a time when our competitors are not prepared for such a crisis, will give us a strong competitive advantage.
We are confident that the business actions we are taking these unsettling times will give Rapicredit.com a long-lasting character for helping people when they need it.
Stay well and kind regards,
DANIEL A. MATERON CEO – Rapicredit.com
March 18th, 2020
Letter from Capital Service’s Vice President, Ovais Siddiqui
Capital Service would like to inform you of the steps that we have taken to ensure the smooth continuance of business and the precautions that we have taken to maintain liquidity for our operations.
Operational Activities
Operating since 1999 the current structure of Capital Service utilises 103 branches in a network across Poland as well as online and contact centre sales channels. Our contact centre is actively supporting the network and our branches follow the guideline set out by the government to ensure the safety of our customers and staff. We are very fortunate to have dedicated and well-trained employees as well as a loyal customer case with a close relationship to the business. Consequently, we are still displaying strong demand for our products and all parties have adapted well to the new safety procedures and conditions in place.
Our collections are handled in the most part remotely, with payments via bank transfer and managed by our in-house collections team. We adapted our policies to the situation Where possible employees are working remotely and where that is not possible are adhering to the recommended safety procedures. Our operations centre in Ostrołęka is functioning as normal and collections are continuing as expected.
Liquidity and Risk
We have reviewed our credit policies and made the appropriate adjustments to manage our sale output in line with demand for products related to funding availability. However, we expect continued good demand in the next few weeks as our products will closely match our customer needs in these challenging times.
We look upon this situation as an opportunity to strengthen the connection to our core customer base and maintain our high levels of customer service.
Our expectation that the events of the last few days will consolidate Capital Service on the market, and we will emerge stronger than ever in the coming days. We fully support the proactive procedures being taken by the Polish government and expect they will rapidly bring an end to the Covid-19 outbreak enabling business as usual in good time.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I wish all of you the best of health and prosperity.
Kind regards,
Ovais Siddiqui
Vice President Capital Service S.A.
March 19th, 2020
An announcement from IuteCredit’s Group CEO, Tarmo Sild
Dear investors,
The Covid-19 pandemic, in combination with social reactions, the measures taken by public authorities and the impact on the economy, is acquiring the characteristics of a force majeure. A force that is way larger than a single business, business sector, government or country can handle alone, and that will last way longer than a few weeks. I wanted to share with you, how we intend to cope with the stormy times ahead.
The ongoing turbulence in the markets is the reaction to a lack of information and extraordinary uncertainty as no one knows, how deep or how widespread or how long this crisis will be. What is positive is that at some point clarity will be restored and then every company will again be judged on its own performance.
Considering the speed at which the situation is changing, there is no way to give a particular promise to the future or provide a precise forecast. Having said that, there are few action guidelines that the IuteCredit Management will stick to and that will probably influence our decisions of the future, just like they have already influenced our decisions that we started to make already at the beginning of March 2020.
Keeping our people safe while the business process continues
We are monitoring the situation very closely and have taken the necessary precautions to ensure the wellbeing of our employees and our customers. That means less physical contact and more interaction over the phone or computer.
Our business processes continue despite the restrictions of public life. IuteCredit’s workflow is flexibly scalable and runs on advanced software that enables seamless and synchronized collaboration between employees who work preferably either at home or in our branches.
We remain available for customers via call centres, emails and social media.
Whenever possible, we keep our branches open, but that depends on particular medical and safety situations, as the circumstances in the individual countries are different and very dynamic.
Operational focus on cash and existing customers
We concentrate on receiving repayments of loans and on the collection of debts. At this point, we focus on the repayment dynamics of existing customers and on keeping repayments as stable as possible.
To put it plainly, cash is kind – to those who care about it before it’s too late. Our focus is thus clearly on retaining our existing customers.
Of course, we continue to issue loans to those in need, albeit with a sense of proportion and to a limited extent. Thereby new customers have to meet increased requirements and accept smaller loan amounts.
Market environment and regulations
On a macro-economic level, we believe that the most likely scenario is that the economies of our countries will at least contract over the next nine months. For us, however, it means that the effects can be mitigated in advance by restructuring loan repayment schedules to levels that correspond with the prospective income structures. One should also bear in mind that unlike EU countries, most of the IuteCredit countries have low levels of public and private debt.
On the regulatory landscape, the authorities in Albania and Moldova have already encouraged the banking and microfinance sector to offer individual customers grace periods over the next three months. Such grace periods should be based on the merits of individual circumstances and if granted, should not give rise to change in provisioning. In addition, the central banks have adopted rules according to which customers may not be treated as defaulted during the emergency period. We expect a similar approach to be applied by authorities of all our operating countries and we deem that reasonable.
As a result of the general uncertainty and restrictions on public life, we also expect prudent consumers to limit their consumption.
Consequently, the demand for quality loans will probably also be lower.
Present situation and measures initiated
As of mid-March, our Customer Performance Index is still above expectations, which means that our customers’ payment behaviour is admirable in this difficult situation.
At the same time, we are in the process of reducing our operating costs by at least 20%. As a broad indication, we need less marketing and sales costs as well as labour force and technology. The effect of the cost reduction will become visible in the second quarter of 2020.
With regard to operating expenses and the sustainability of our interest payments, we have visibility of around 12 months, based on our current cash position.
In conclusion and to sum up, I would like to say that we are in good spirits and our processes are well-positioned for the current situation.
Stay healthy and confident! And if you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.
Tarmo Sild
Group CEO of IuteCredit
Editor’s note: currently there is no force majeure situation with regard to the fulfilment of IuteCredit obligations to investors on Mintos.
March 19th, 2020
Message to investors on Mintos from Mogo’s board
Together we are facing a dynamic and unprecedented situation with Covid-19. As we move forward and continue to work together, we want to reassure you our top priority remains serving our customers, stakeholders and taking care of our team members.
As we look forward and we adapt ourselves to different restrictions imposed by local government bodies to contain the further spread of Covid-19, we appreciate your patience in the coming days and weeks. We are confident that, together, we will find appropriate solutions to keep our customer and investor relations intact and our teams safe. Our goal is to have the least possible impact on the Mogo’s business to position ourselves at the forefront of competition in the post-restrictions period.
Our mission of providing the most convenient solution to solve mobility needs remains unchanged. Our business model is based on solving basic human necessities and thus ensures a long term relationship with our customers. This is the fundament that is stable as many short term disruption come and go.
Our Group has been taking a number of practical actions designed to reduce the risk of Covid-19 having material long term impact on our business and they will continue until further notice:
People
- Our people are equipped with the latest resources to work remotely and we have put in place arrangements for large scale remote working, which are being executed in many of our offices around the world
- International business travel is not permitted
- Employees who themselves, or a person close to them, has travelled abroad have to self-quarantine for 14 days and are not permitted to come to the office
- We act in accordance with all government regulations and recommendations across our jurisdictions
Customers
- Our customer serving branches remain open up to the extent possible
- We keep close contact with all our customers and proactively address any payment questions
- Debt collection is our core focus area and together with our clients we aim to find the most optimal debt repayment strategies
- We have always ensured that in every market we operate we have many alternative payment options for customers to make their monthly payments
- We comply with all local regulators’ binding requests
Operations
- We have made more stringent risk levels for the customers
- We have selectively decreased loan to value ratios and loan maximum amounts, as well as reconsidered geographical focus
- We are limiting any marketing as we see continue to limit loans issued to build sufficient liquidity buffer
- We are limiting any new market or product research activities until further notice
- All business non-essential cost is being reduced and capital expenditure initiatives are being put on hold
- We remain cost cautious and ready to react immediately to the changing operational environment
Funding commitments
- We are strongly committed to continuing to serve our obligations towards Mintos investors, bondholder and other lenders
- Our predominantly long-term funding mix provides us with robust diversified funding base with 95% of liabilities excluding Mintos maturing post-2020
- Our shareholders remain committed to the Mogo with more than EUR 30m of equity (including subordinated loans) invested in the business
- The commitment particularly towards Mintos investors can be evidenced by
- Having one of the longest and most stable track records on the Mintos platform since 2015
- Continuing to offer a wide variety of products to invest in Mintos platform diversified by geographies, buy-back options, maturities and returns
Thank you for your continued support, and we wish you and those close to you the best in health and wellness.
March 19th, 2020
Zenka Finance: Our agility and advanced technological solutions are our response to coronavirus disease
Dear and esteemed investors on Mintos,
As a leading mobile lender in Kenya, with over 2 million downloads of our smartphone app, we have been closely monitoring the situation related to the coronavirus spreading since the very beginning and have taken all the necessary measures to prevent its negative influence on our business and employees.
Zenka Risk Management Systems
To make sure we are maintaining a healthy course of our business, we have tightened our credit risk models and scoring filters to reduce risk exposure. We have over 6,000 data checkpoints, enabling the system to automatically adapt to the evolving external factors and automatically recalculate customers’ credit limits.
We have implemented an advanced Early Warning System (EWS). Our system allows us to create risk profiles and can trigger automated early collection response while reassessing customer’s creditworthiness and recalculating their loan limits. What’s more, our technology enables us to access customer mobile wallet transactional data (similar to EU Open Banking standard), that is used during loan application scoring, EWS and collection strategy design.
Zenka’s Management
Our advantage is that the company’s top management has long-term experience from the banking and fintech sector and has been in senior roles during the financial crunch of 2008. At that time, we managed to shield our organisations and our customers against the turmoil. We took measures to protect our assets and shareholders’ value while at the same time, adapted our organisations to gain market share in the best customer segments that remained untapped by our competitors. We are confident that our business is solid and well-positioned to come out stronger through this challenging time.
Our Financials
We have always been a lean and thin organisation, focused on investment efficiency and cost-optimisation since our establishment while keeping our C/I at an excellent level of 30% for our Kenyan business. Zenka is profitable and our net profits have a steady growth trajectory, and with the actions we have already taken, we will maintain a profitable course of business operations.
Zenka’s Team
First and foremost, we ensured that the health of our highly professional team would not be at risk during this turbulent time. A majority of our interactions with customers are fully automated and serviced through AI-powered communication channels; in cases when customers request to speak directly with our employees, this is done solely through digital channels, therefore, reducing the risk of infection. Additionally, we have implemented necessary procedures that allow us to work and manage all processes remotely.
What’s more, we have subscribed to relevant government channels and hotlines like Ministry of Health and Kenya Red Cross to receive instant important updates and directives, which we then pass to our employees and customers using our platforms like smartphone notifications, social media, SMS and website information.
Our team is committed to maintaining the high delivery standards of our products and services, thus continuing to support our customers.
Having our people safe and secured, we made the most crucial step in ensuring that business will run smoothly, and our services are delivered with high standards.
Should you have any concerns or questions, please send them to [email protected]
We wish you and your families a lot of health and all the best.
Thank you for investing in Zenka.
Kind Regards,
Zenka Management
March 19th, 2020
Kviku’s announcement to the investors on Mintos
Kviku would like to reassure our valued investors at Mintos with the following announcement:
1. Our day-to-day operations have not been affected due to the fully online nature of the business in all countries of operation.
2. 95% of our employees have been historically working from home since the start of our business in 2013, hence none of the operating processes are affected by the current quarantine measures introduced by the governments.
2. We do not expect the default rates to increase substantially due to very low amounts (under EUR 100) of an average issued loan and no business loans in our portfolio.
3. 80% of our liabilities are RUB-denominated. The rest is covered by available cash (liquidity cushion) on the balance sheet, which is historically kept in EUR (natural hedge).
4. Our license in Russia allows maintaining strong funding diversification with solid long term (up to 3 years) deposit base in Russia from retail investors, as well as credit lines from Asian institutional investors.
5. Our fixed costs are just around 2% of our monthly issuance volumes (payroll, credit scoring, processing, IT infrastructure).
6. We see increased demand for online lending in Russia, as traditional financial institutions start to suffer from the current offline restrictions. Our quarterly lending volumes are currently recorded high.
In light of the above, we believe that we are well-positioned to handle the current market turmoil given our solid liquidity position and low operating costs.
March 19th, 2020
Announcement from AgroCredit to investors on Mintos
The world’s economy is entering into very challenging times due to the expected global recession caused by Covid-19 virus issues. The income and consumption levels are expected to decrease significantly during the coming year and most likely will cause the increase of global unemployment, a decrease of production amounts and quality of credit portfolios (bank and non-bank lenders).
In the same time, challenging times are good for the economics to restructure, clean-up and become more effective. I strongly believe also that these times will show very clearly to the investors, that the biggest “nominal” return does not always guaranty the biggest realistic revenue.
If you look at the offer provided through Mintos platform, you will find that AgroCredit Latvia is one of the rare companies offering their investors “one number” return (6-7%) while the majority lies between 10%-15%. It has been a challenge for AgroCredit to assure the investors to make more conservative investments and accept the lower nominal return.
Today, AgroCredit Latvia continues to grant lending to the farmers, and we don’t see any potential impact on meeting our liabilities to creditors and investors. Here’s why:
1. The structure of the balance sheet of the company is very strong. The portfolio is financed 30% by own capital (equity + shareholders loan), 50% by long term (the year 2026) public bonds and only 20% by Mintos and other private short term investors.
2. The liquidity of the company is over 250% (based on forecasted incoming customer payments and outgoing loan service payments until the end of the business cycle in October).
3. The historic credit loss rate is 0.2% of the average portfolio. Although it can increase (to make a conservative assumption) during these times, still if we take into the consideration the balance sheet and the liquidity of the company, we can prove that the financial state of AgroCredit Latvia is strong.
4. The farming sector is influenced considerably less than the economics on average by the current virus and the coming economic crisis due to several factors:
4.1. The production process is not significantly affected by the current situation due to its specifics (farmers are working solely not in crowded production plants);
4.2. The agriculture business is not influenced by travel and border crossing restrictions – cargo ships and vehicles run their business on usual bases;
4.3. The crops of the farmers are the first-aim needs for the society and thus the demand is not considerably affected also during the crisis times (farmers are not affected by the shut down of the hotels, restaurant and travel);
4.4. Although the majority of the stock exchange ratios (listed shares, bonds, commodities) show a significant fall during the last weeks, the grain prices remain stable.
To conclude – we strongly believe the agricultural sector will maintain strong and investments will bring the results to investors as up until now.
March 20th, 2020
FINITERA takes care of sustainable business practice in Balkans
Dear Investors,
We all are facing global uncertainty and changes it brings to all the sectors – in different business areas as well as in private life. New pandemic has put us in the situation where our habits and decision making patterns are challenged – our skills and will to adapt, to be flexible and set the priorities will define our ability to cope with and champion in “new normal”.
Business update:
Balkan countries have reacted to COVID-19 by a set of different restrictions. North Macedonia has declared the state of emergency, while Albania has reacted in a more harsh way by issuing the order to ban people movement by all kind of transportation. Nevertheless, we are taking care of sustainable business contingency, we are closely monitoring the situation day by day and fully abide by all local government initiatives. As such, our daily operations have not been impacted to a significant level.
Services:
Branches remain open although not open on full-time, as well as we have reduced the number of open branches in order to respect the order or movement of individuals. Considering the health and wellbeing of our employees as the priority, there are measures taken to reduce the exposure and personal contact in branches, therefore, there is reduced the number of service employees and individual service provided by social distance mandatory request. Our people are encouraged to work remotely in positions where it`s applicable.
Payment discipline has not been weakened, the amount of incoming money is temporarily reduced because of reduced open branch amount and restricted working hours – people are not able to make repayments in person because of movement restrictions.
Actions taken:
– we have reviewed our scoring criteria to adjust loan issuance to certain client groups
– we focus on the recovery process and communication with our clients
– we follow up on maintaining a solid liquidity position (increasing cash buffer)
– we are implementing individual solutions for clients in financial difficulties to address their problems in the present environment
Mārcis Grīnis
CEO/ Co-Founder
March 20th, 2020
Dozarplati: Stability and sustainable growth
Dear Investors and Stakeholders,
The microfinance company Dozarplati provides insight into the developments concerning COVID-19 in Russia and all over the world. It is safe to say that at the moment in Russia there is no social panic. Nevertheless, we stay alert and have taken all appropriate measures to ensure the safety of our staff and to provide the opportunity of being at home with our services for those customers who rely on self-imposed isolation at home.
Uninterrupted performance of our company and concern for people
Dozarplati has always given primacy to mobile out-of-office workers, so the transition of the vast majority of our employers to work from home is no way detrimental to operational behaviour. Our IT experts and client support group are already working remotely from home offices. A stage of transition to work from home of other departments of the Company is within reach of completion. A potential quarantine or any other travel restrictions will have no impact upon the Company operations.
Advantages of online operation
Since 90% of our business is online lending, the possible quarantine measures for population and self-imposed isolation in foreseeable future will not adversely affect the customer flow and an amount of online lending, and so the financial metrics as well. Additionally, to have the situation well in hand, we monitor customer behaviour. Since early March we have already recorded a slight growth of online activity and also we observe a positive trend of the transition of offline clients to the online mode.
The Company analysts on a day-to-day basis are concerned with on-line monitoring of collection values. At the moment, we neither see nor foresee any marked changes of the financial discipline of our customers – statistics of returns inwards is standard. In order to ensure a better collection over this challenging period, we have preventively launched an additional notification of our customers to foil an increase in delay payment level.
Remaining responsible partner
We are in contact with our loyal customers, we are consulting them and are prepared to provide financial assistance within a short time. Fortunately, even under conditions of quarantine, business is sure-footed, does not report and anticipate lost revenues and feels optimistic about the future.
Stay well and kind regards,
Pavel Sologub,
CEO and Со-Founder
Dozarplati
March 20th, 2020
A note from Creditter during the current times
Dear investors and partners,
Creditter is closely monitoring the current situation related to the spread of the virus and is fully aware of the need for businesses to be prepared for possible negative scenarios in global financial markets.
Our business model involves working online, without direct contact with the customer, so our employees are not at risk of spreading the infection. We receive and make all payments without a physical presence, and our IT infrastructure is ready to continuously support 24/7 businesses and customers, even when it is necessary to move all our employees to remote working conditions.
At present, the need for loans from our new and repeat customers persists. Recently, we have not seen any deterioration in the borrowers’ financial position or their payment discipline. At the same time, we have many years of experience and are constantly working to improve the efficiency of debt reminding and collection.
In order to minimize the level of possible risk in the current environment, our analysts have further optimized scoring models and excluded a number of high-risk segments. At the same time, the company maintains a high level of liquidity, and lending volumes fully meet our expectations and forecasts.
We wish you good health and thank you for your trust!
March 20th, 2020
Moneyboat (Evergreen Finance): Taking steps to protect our investors and enhance opportunities
As we all adapt to the daily challenges facing the world during the COVID-19 outbreak, we want to take a moment to talk to you, our Mintos investors personally. These unprecedented events are uncertain and evolving, however, our commitment to responsible lending and business growth remains ironclad.
As many are aware, these unprecedented events present opportunities for Mintos investors to see their money go further than previously thought possible. At a time when thousands of people across the UK are turning to sources of online finance, Moneyboat.co.uk are fortunate to be ahead of the curve with our deep AI and specialist lending algorithms.
“Economic crises do not throw off our decision modelling, rather successfully prove what we have been developing for months already.” Moneyboat Data Scientist
Demand for our product is considerable and with our policies remaining as tight as ever, we are in an ideal position for investment. Our investors can be assured that amid the trying times, your investment is safe, strong and unparalleled.
Strong Security
To ensure immediate response to the market and our customers’ needs, our dedicated analytics team report on and feed real-time insights into our decision-model.
All Moneyboat loans are covered by a Mintos buyback guarantee to ensure maximum security for our investors. With 97.5% of our customers working in safe industries, including the MoD, the NHS and other organisations, we are confident in both our historical lending decisions as well as our additional stringencies on new applications. Our average borrower is in their mid-30s, with an asset which reflects their overall lending security. It goes without saying that we never pursue subprime consumers.
Safe-guarding
Evergreen Finance London, trading as Moneyboat.co.uk is an award-nominated, highly liquid and agile business with strong backing from investors. Our corporation is vast with a strong and diverse portfolio. The company’s management and leadership are strong, highly experienced financial experts who are committed to driving Moneyboat over and above this current crisis. Whilst maintaining every measure possible to secure our operations we’re also helping our customers every step of the way.
March 20th, 2020
DelfinGroup’s announcement of the current market situation
DelfinGroup was founded in 2009 during the previous global financial crisis. The company started off with one pawnshop which grew to a network of 50 pawn shops in less than a year. DelfinGroup’s business DNA was developed by taking into account hard lessons from the previous crisis – concrete hard cost discipline, long-term planning, and thorough processes – these have been present in the company since the very first day, and that is one of the reasons why the performance has been so stable and profitable all this time.
The crisis of 2008 was different compared to what we might see today because, on top of external factors, Latvia had internal problems too. Now the import and export are balanced, government debt is not too high, people have deposited more than interest-bearing liabilities, and the government is prepared to help our people and companies.
In the near future, we expect slightly negative changes in demand from our customers due to lower consumption of goods and services. We expect slightly lower issuance due to before mentioned reason, decrease in marketing spending and stricter solvency checks by the company. But we expect no substantial changes in customer payment discipline due to the following reasons:
– DelfinGroup’s average loan size per customer is small – 104 EUR for pawn loans and 694 EUR for consumer loans -, so we are not dependent on several large customers. Our active customer base is diversified and consists of around 115 000 people, and our passive customer base is close to 300 000 people.
– DelfinGroup has many long-term customers whom we trust because of successful historical cooperation since the company’s foundation in 2009;
– Banknote pawn loans are secured by liquid assets, the value of which is reassessed regularly. With pawn loans generating 40% of the total group’s income, we feel stable in all times, including a temporary crisis period.
– DelfinGroup follows all regulatory requirements, part of which is profound customer due diligence – official income check, bank statement check and solvency check; as we issue loans only to those applicants having sufficient legal income, all our customers are secured with social guarantees from the state, be it a layoff or a sick leave.
In addition to the above mentioned, our liquidity risk is relatively low as we have diversified financing structure – Mintos, bonds listed in Nasdaq Baltic, own equity. Moreover, the financing attracted through Mintos is on the average long term – our loans are issued for up to 5 years term. Another successful bond issue has attracted 3.6 million EUR at 14% rate in the period from November 2019 until today.
DelfinGroup provides services in Latvia only, which we think is our competitive advantage – our economy is strong; we do not have currency risk, and we know our customers.
Steps we have taken as a precaution against a possible recession
– We have adjusted credit risks for new and repeated customers.
– We have substantially decreased the cost base in order to manage liquidity risk and be able to issue new loans and simultaneously cover current and future liabilities against our investors.
– Banknote pawn shops work under improved security conditions, yet, we are ready to serve customers from distance. In addition, customers have access to remote payment tools so, in case of a temporary pawn shop closure, income flow is expected to continue.
– Currently, 90% of DelfinGroup administrative employees work remotely. Our office is almost paperless and we have a culture of online-based project management tools therefore working outside the office is not an issue and we can run the business as usual.
DelfinGroup would like to put emphasis on our strong balance sheet that will help us go through uncertain times. In addition to Mintos, an integral part of our group operations is financed by two bond issues with repayment terms almost 2 and 3 years from now.
Group’s consolidated data as of 31.12.2019.
– Net loan portfolio: over 23m EUR
– Equity: 8.4m EUR
– EBITDA: 8.1m EUR
– Net Debt / Equity ratio: 3.0
– Net Debt / EBITDA ratio: 3.1
– Interest coverage ratio: 2.5
– Current ratio: 1.5
We understand that the length of the current crisis is unpredictable, and we have taken all the necessary actions and will take additional actions, if necessary. Even if the crisis will last longer than anticipated, we will be able to maintain our ratios, our portfolio, our customers’ and employees’ loyalty, and get back on growth track as soon as the crisis is over.
While we understand that uncertain times require increased interest rates, we will not go above certain limits. We stand strong with A-rating on Mintos earned thanks to our stable financial performance, long-term leverage from bondholders, our trusted customer base and loyal employees.
March 23rd, 2020
An official announcement from ExpressCredit regarding the current situation
Dear Investors and Partners
At ExpressCredit, we are closely monitoring the progression and development of coronavirus, its short and longer-term impact on public health, economic situation, our customers and employees. Where we stand today, we are maintaining our operations in a healthy, stable but cautious manner.
Our Employees in Group Head Office and Countries of Operations
Our team has always been very lean and our back-office operations – virtual, working from home time after time has been part of our organisational culture. This allowed us to react quickly and move all our team to work from home mode well before the official announcements from the government came out. Our branches in countries of operations are open and servicing customers at the same time we are monitoring announcements from the government locally and ready to take steps necessary to ensure our people and customers are safe. Our communications team is preparing and distributing regular announcements and newsletters for our team members in the group and countries on measures and tips to keep safe and healthy.
Loan Issuance and Repayments
Our underwriting policy has always been driven by strict affordability rule set and detailed analysis of customers income and expenditure due to the nature of our products and collection method. Deduction at the source which is the primary method of the collection means that loan repayments are deducted by the employer before the salary is paid out. At the same time deduction isn’t processed if there is any slightest deviation from the take-home requirements regulated by the Employment Law of the countries. As a result of this stringent and detailed process during the loan issuance, we have not observed any changes in customer repayments. All our other collection methods are also distance payments – debit cards, standing orders and direct debit transactions where payment is collected with no face-to-face contact with the customer allowing us to significantly reduce risk to both – customers and employees. Meanwhile, we have reviewed and restricted loan issuance to some sectors that are highly likely to be affected by coronavirus such as the tourism industry, airlines, mining industry and others. The list of restricted industries is dynamic and is being adjusted on a daily basis.
We have not changed or aim to change our approach to collecting accounts in arrears. For customers in arrears, there are different payment options available including affordability based payment plans to meet their needs for living and at the same time to ensure loan repayments are met. If the situation with the coronavirus changes and we see significant changes in repayments we have prepared tools to help our customers in these hard times such as payment holiday options, and other flexible approaches to repayments, if required. As most of our loans are long-term, we focus on maintaining a long-term relationship with our borrowers and aim to treat customers fairly in their short term change of circumstances.
Our countries of operations so far have not been affected by the virus and there have not been implemented any drastic measures by respective governments. We see that issuance volumes are stable and we have not observed significant changes in demand for the loans. At the same time, we have adjusted available limits to our customers to protect them from over committing in these turbulent times.
Our Financial Stability
Our gross loan portfolio is EUR 39 million and provides the Group companies with stable and sufficient operating cash flows to manage the existing portfolio, debt and run daily operations without interruption. Meanwhile, on a preventive basis, we are taking all necessary actions to manage our cost base with maximum efficiency. We are fully prepared for turbulence in case it comes to Botswana, Namibia or Zambia. We are actively working on two big financing projects in two countries of operations with an aim to finalising them by the end of Q2. They will provide the respective Group companies with access to additional funding sources to facilitate the growth of the loan portfolio and will further diversify our loan portfolio in terms of the range of products offered to the market, geographical and industry coverage. In addition, we have concluded some strong partnerships in the last couple of months which allows us to expand our customer base significantly.
If the situation changes
Our customers say that ExpressCredit is an innovative company and we see these times as a potential to use innovation to support local communities in their need for financial inclusion and access to services. Should we have to temporarily close the branches we plan to move our people to process online applications and ensure our customer service is not interrupted.
We are confident that ExpressCredit is ready for different scenarios and that our core value of putting our customer at the heart of our operations shall remain unchanged.
March 23rd, 2020
Update about COVID-19 from Wowwo’s CFO, Kurt Akyüz
In response to the recent developments related to COVID-19 globally, we are sharing an update with our investors on the current state of our business, the precautions that we are taking, and our plans going forward while maintaining the health and wellbeing of our employees and customers as our key focus.
While the current situation is unfortunate and extraordinary, Turkey has taken preventative measures early on in this global crisis and has managed the number of cases. We believe, due to this responsive action by our government, that the country has not been as seriously affected by the ongoing pandemic virus as many of our European neighbours have. Wowwo has been tracking the global effects and ensuring that measures are in place that will lessen the impact on our business as a whole.
Business update: As our business is primarily online, the risk to our staff is limited in the daily course of business. When face-to-face contact is required in our showrooms, for example at the point of sale and handing over a vehicle, protection of our employees and customers, as well as the general avoidance of spreading the virus, has been paramount. Our showrooms are professionally sanitized on a daily basis, and strict hygiene and cleaning guidelines have been put in place. We have educated our staff in this respect and given them protective measures to maintain their health and the health of those they are in contact with. We have also allowed staff to work from home whenever possible to further mitigate spreading the virus. For customers who are social distancing, we have prepared a waiting list on cars they have shown interest in or completed preliminary transactions before the handover.
Sales and Funding: Although naturally in these circumstances, sales would have been affected, we are still trading and turning over a healthy profit. Wowwo has strong liquidity and a selection of credit options available in order to maintain its daily business.
The inflow of monthly repayments is continuing according to the regular schedules, there is no discernible reduction in the payments that are being made to us by our customers, ensuring that cash-flow is strong and stable. However, as part of our existing business model, our payments are collateralised by the assets which are cars, therefore our payments are secured. As a business, we understand that this could be a time of financial difficulty for some of our customers so we also offer a buyback on the car or exchange options if they need to downsize.
Payments to Mintos investors: We would like to assure our investors that all payments to them will be completed. If there are delays due to current circumstances, investors have the added comfort knowing that all of our loans are secured with a buyback guarantee, removing any risk to the investor. We value your trust when investing in our product and will endeavour to repay that trust, as promptly as possible, in these troublesome times.
Risk: We have been making strong preparations for possible future scenarios and creating resolutions for each scenario. Our main aim is to limit the risk to our investors so that we may both overcome this unprecedented situation together, and subsequently continue our mutually beneficial relationship.
The Turkish Government recently implemented a strong financial aid package to business and this has further given us the incentive to overcome this difficult period.
We wish you all and your loved ones to stay safe.
Kurt Akyüz Wowwo CFO
March 25th, 2020
MyBucks S.A. (GetBucks) informs investors on Mintos regarding Covid-19
On March 23, 2020, the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa announced a three-week lock-down of the nation, lasting until April 17, 2020, or until further notice. This will have a significant economic impact on the country and is likely to lead to people being put on short-time or otherwise seeing a reduction in disposable income. In addition, with the South African economy having entered a recession in the last quarter of 2019, prospects of positive growth in 2020 are further diminished. We are preparing ourselves with appropriate collection measures to mitigate this, and taking operational measures to continue servicing our clients to the best of our abilities.
In South Africa, whilst we may not yet understand all the implications of the lockdown, our portfolio view is as follows;
– We only lend to permanently employed individuals and the loans are accompanied with embedded credit protection insurance for death, disability and retrenchment (12 months cover)
– About 10% of our portfolio is exposed to sectors that might be severely negatively impacted by the lockdown. In these instances, where employees have not been retrenched but are rather on reduced or limited hours, we are working with the employers to restructure the loan agreements for the next few months
– We have expanded our collection networks to include self-payment options ahead of the lockdown. In their first weeks of operation, we have seen a 45% week on week increase on payment commitments through these channels.
– Our mobile applications are available in both the Android and IOS application stores to allow consumers to access their credit profiles and supporting financial education.
We are receiving communication in the market that some credit providers have stopped lending. We tightened our credit criteria in mid-February and view the total withdrawal of supply as imprudent – we would rather focus on supporting existing clients with refinancing opportunities where the credit profile of the borrower supports this decision and apply what we believe are deeper credit risk assessment tools to continue to support consumers through this time.
Maintaining open communication with our customers is key to managing our portfolio through the coming months
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Uganda have recorded their first Covid-19 case, with Zimbabwe also recording the first death. We are preparing ourselves for more stringent measures in these countries – following the measures taken by South Africa. Botswana remains one of few countries with no active cases yet, but its president is currently in self-isolation. Due to the low testing rates in the region, making a determination of the virus is difficult and there is a high possibility of undetermined local transmission. We are prepared to apply the lessons learned from South Africa in these markets immediately as and when required.
Kenya has recorded 25 cases and already announced a raft of measures restricting travel into Kenya, limiting public gatherings and also closing schools and universities in a bid to reduce the rate of infections in the country. Our Kenya business has 14% of its loan book directly exposed to the slowing economy with 86% of the loan book being government payroll deduction loans. The business has introduced similar measures to South Africa to protect its portfolio, its clients and its employees.
From a Group perspective, the continued expansion of the impact of Covid-19 is particularly concerning with regards to capital raising timelines – we are closely following all developments and managing our cashflow in the most prudent way possible to ensure we can continue trading. As a result of the Group Restructuring, MyBucks and its subsidiaries had already reduced cost structures to the bare minimum required – which now works in our favour. MyBucks’ attention remains first and foremost with the health of our clients and employees, whilst we continue to try and serve all stakeholders in the best of our abilities.
March 25th, 2020
Announcement from Kredit Pintar about the current situation
Dear Valued Investors,
As with many of you, we continue to monitor and adapt to the evolving COVID-19 outbreak from both a personal and business standpoint. We wanted to take this opportunity to update you that the business operations of Kredit Pintar continue as usual and the team is focused on managing the portfolio during these unprecedented times.
During these times, Kredit Pintar’s internal organization especially benefits from being a technology-first company. The key underlying technology platforms reside in the cloud and many of the major processes are performed virtually, meaning that they are not as subject to disruption by local government lockdowns as compared to more traditional local platforms. Furthermore, with our operations spanning multiple countries in the region, the team has been familiar with working via virtual means for some time now.
From a portfolio perspective, Kredit Pintar has not seen a material spike in default rates as of this date. The company’s view remains unchanged and we continue to see attractive opportunities in the ASEAN consumer lending space over both the medium and long-term. However, while we are in this immediate period of uncertainty, we have implemented more risk management measures focused on downside protection and the conservation of cash, with the aim of preserving investor capital and returns.
We believe that the current environment is the type of environment where Kredit Pintar’s core business model of shorter duration and hyper-diversified loans comes into play, where it can quickly react to adverse macro shocks through swift portfolio adjustments, compared to other business models where the money is locked into longer-term, more inflexible assets. Kredit Pintar believes that current measures it has put in place are appropriate to manage its business through this uncertain global environment as we continue monitoring the situation. Our key focus is to ensure that we safely get through the current storm to be able to take advantage of the attractive lending opportunities that await those lenders who are able to do so.
Yours sincerely,
Kredit Pintar
March 25th, 2020
SOS Credit responses to recent local and global developments
Covid 19 global
We have assessed the current situation as far as it is possible and have taken following countermeasures:
1. We have transferred our enterprise in the “home office” mode from March 16, 2020.
2. Optimized scoring system parameters to reduce the risk of client defaults.
3. Reduced the amount of the first loan in risk segments of customers.
4. Strengthened, optimized the collection process and introduced a restructuring product.
5. Improved individual selection of a loan product for new customers.
6. Connected with several new credit bureau and telecommunications operators databases for better evaluation of potential clients.
Local changes in legislation
Parliament of Ukraine has passed a law prohibiting the calculation of penalties for late payments on loans from March 1, 2020, to April 30 2020.
We are not significantly affected by such temporary regulation due to the fact that penalties held just ~20% share in our revenues’ composition. In addition, we have compensated it by adjusting base borrowing rates both for first and secondary products. This also allows us to afford more expensive funding and maintaining our firm net lending margins.
Beside above-mentioned measures, our risk team monitors the situation on a daily basis in order to ensure the proper quality of loans issued. Our communications team (call centre, collection) actively works with our clients in order to maintain confidence in the timely fulfilment of their loan obligations. We will continue to vigilantly monitor the situation and any potential impact on our business.
We wish you to stay healthy and quickly pass this turbulent period of time!
Sincerely,
SOS Credit Team
March 25th, 2020
Melivesa Holding (E-cash): “We remain sustainable to Global Challenges”
Dear Mintos Investors and Partners,
I would like to inform you that Melivesa Holding with its Ukrainian subsidiary E-cash continues to work intensively while taking maximum precaution measurements to guarantee the health and well-being of our employees, customers, and other stakeholders.
As our strategic view is to find a proper balance between growth and risk appetite, we were able to adapt in a short period of time to a new market situation and ensure the smooth operation of the company. Due to the specifics of the business, we are fully capable to provide a working environment from home offices and we already transferred employees to a remote mode.
It is worthy to note that the demand for payday loans in Ukraine has not decreased. In order to maintain a leading position in the market, we take the following steps:
– E-cash “keeps abreast” and instantly responds to the slightest changes in the financial market, making changes to the policy of issuing and repaying (collecting) credit funds.
– We reviewed our scoring models and optimized the issuance of loans for the most trustworthy consumers.
– E-cash conducts active work with borrowers, offering various mutually beneficial conditions for repayment/prolongation of loans.
– We carefully monitor the liquidity of the portfolio and do not intend to reduce the growth rate significantly, while minimizing the risk factors that have arisen by searching for new effective approaches and innovative solutions.
We operate without delays of any repayments to our investors and as a responsible business, we will constantly provide any news if any unusual changes will occur on the financial market.
Hereby, we take the opportunity to wish all of you health and we believe, we will together return to normal lifestyle even stronger than before!
With kind regards,
Gia Tarieladze
CEO of Melivesa Holding LTD
March 26th, 2020
StikCredit CEOs message to investors on Mintos
Dear friends,
We write to you to in these difficult times to inspire your confidence, offer support and to share with you the most recent market developments in Bulgaria.
We have been following closely the COVID-19 epidemic and we were prepared as the first cases hit the old continent. On March 13, the Bulgarian government announced extraordinary measures placing restrictions on access to public venues, leisure facilities, limiting the movement of citizens and requiring working from home wherever possible. The economy is functioning albeit at a slower pace and there are no regulatory restrictions on repayments of debts.
Before the announcement of the extraordinary measures, the company had already put a detailed plan in place assessing the risks and focusing on maintaining financial stability and, more importantly, liquidity. Some of the most important measures we took include:
– Stikcredit increased its cash holdings significantly prior to the announcement of the extraordinary situation.
– The company introduced special health-related procedures and training, ensured protective equipment and hygiene products for all of its employees.
– The management adjusted the risk policy of the company shifting its focus on proven customers with low-risk profiles and by decreasing the maximum amount which can be withdrawn.
– We reduced issuance volumes and marketing efforts, and we put more emphasis on early collection.
– The company immediately made cost cuttings to all unvital expenditures and put on hold its expansion plans.
At the moment our entire national office network is open and fully operational as well as our online operations. The company maintains excellent liquidity and is fully capable of meeting all of its liabilities arising over the short to medium term.
You can forward your company related questions to [email protected] or visit stikcredit.com for updates.
May you and your families stay healthy.
Kind Regards,
Stikcredit
March 30th, 2020
DineritoXtra’s announcement regarding the global spread of COVID-19
Dear investors,
With the global economic situation and the impact the COVID-19 worldwide outbreak has caused, DineritoXtra believes it is important to mention and highlight defensive characteristics regarding the loans that are found on Mintos.
1. Mexico is currently at Stage II of health contingency.
2. The loans issued by DineritoXtra are given to retired Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos) personnel which are not susceptible to unemployment nor personnel reduction.
3. Loans are guaranteed by Pemex ́s mutual funds and by the Mexican Federal Government. The Mexican Federal Government has stated and shown its commitment to salary payments, pensions and retirements.
4. At DineritoXtra, we believe that this COVID-19 situation in México could affect our creditors in terms of death risk; the average age amongst them is 59 years old, however, being all retired and having their manner of living set, they can maintain themselves in quarantine, reducing the risk of contagion and lowering the risk of dying. Up to today, we do not know of any of our creditors to be infected.
5. DineritoXtra considers that the investments to the underlying loan contracts still provide an attractive yield/risk ratio for European investors.
6. Europe’́s funding rates are below 1%, the lowest in ten years. We believe that the return of investment from DineritoXtra is a good investment opportunity.
7. Up to date, no DineritoXtra employee has shown symptoms of COVID-19, and all necessary preventive measures have been taken so that there is no risk of contagion.
8. Since March 18th, 80% of DineritoXtra’s employees are working remotely from their homes.
9. DineritoXtra maintains a cash position of 10% on its total portfolio and almost 30% on the portfolio is being sold through Mintos.
10. DineritoXtra’s leverage ratio is around 2 times the liabilities to equity. DineritoXtra has a hedging strategy for the debt in foreign currency that covers for the next 12 months 70% of its liabilities in a currency other than the Mexican peso, and which consists of the purchase of forwards, calls, and reserves in Euros (EUR) and American Dollars (USD). Derivatives’ acquisition prices were set at spot values on February 6, 2020.
11. Up to date, DineritoXtra continues generating loans. Because the loans are based on payroll deduction, and having the Mexican Federal Government as a guarantor of the guarantee’s timely payroll payments, this becomes a financial mechanism for families who require cash in times of crisis.
Kind regards,
Paul Bustos
CEO
April 1st, 2020
COVID-19 — An update and message from the Credissimo Group CEO
In light of the recent developments related to COVID-19 globally, we at Credissimo would like to update our partners on the current state of business, measures and precautions we have taken going forward. We have been closely monitoring the situation and we are proactively ensuring the continuity of our business, as well as the safety and well-being of our employees. Despite the development of the virus, our team is committed to maintaining the high delivery standards of our products and services and continuing to support our customers.
One of the greatest advantages of having an entirely online business model of operations is the flexibility to continue our daily operations undisrupted and easily apply the necessary safety precautions both towards our employees and customers, who are not exposed to the risk of infection spreading via face-to-face contact. Furthermore, we provided everything required for our teams to work remotely as long as it might be required and the business flows to maintain stable. Our centralised infrastructure is fully capable of supporting this remote arrangement and our employees are following all the necessary procedures to keep up to the highest security standards, confidentiality and business performance. Last but not least, ensuring the well-being of our highly professional team is the most important factor to keep the business running smoothly.
As always, we are closely monitoring our loan portfolio and the overall credit risk we are exposed to. Currently, we do not notice any critical fluctuation in its performance and in the behaviour of our clients. However, we are actively analysing the day-to-day dynamics and making sure we keep close communication and address any feedback we receive. We have further fostered our credit risk assessment procedures and fine-tuned our scoring models, in order to take immediate and adequate measures in accordance with the demand for our financial product offerings.
These uncertain and turbulent times have not affected our dedication or commitment to our customers. We are blessed that, even under such unfavourable conditions to society and the economy in general, our business is well-footed, efficient and focused on remaining viable and prepared for the positive future to come in a couple of months time.
Being amongst only the few loan originators on Mintos with the highest A- rating, we would like to ascertain all investors in our loans that we continue to be actively positioned on the platform by placing new loans daily and maintaining our payment obligations in a timely manner, as we have always done so far.
