FAQ about Russian and Ukrainian lending companies on Mintos
Dear Investors,
For the past few months, we have been closely following tensions caused by the Russia-Ukraine crisis, as we work with lending companies in both countries. We’re now reacting to the most recent developments in this case.
Please see our latest Blog Post here: https://www.mintos.com/blog/mintos-takes-precautionary-measures-on-the-platform-in-the-case-of-the-russia-ukraine-crisis
Currently, we don’t experience any interruptions in repayment flow from borrowers of Russian and Ukrainian lending companies on Mintos. We also reached out to the lending companies for their comments, and according to their feedback, the current situation does not affect borrowers’ repayment discipline.
At the moment, we can’t predict how further escalation of the crisis and sanctions might affect the lending companies in these markets. We are monitoring the situation, and as a precautionary measure, we’re reviewing the impact of the market risks on the Mintos Risk Score for loans from the lending companies from Russia and Ukraine.
Based on this, we decided to remove loans from Russian and Ukrainian lending companies from the Mintos Conservative strategy. This automated investment tool selects loans for investments in the score range from 7 to 10. In case further developments require a decrease of the Mintos Risk Score for loans from Russian and Ukrainian lending companies, these loans will not be fit for the Mintos Conservative strategy anymore. We’re introducing this precautionary measure to prevent that from happening.
If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know!
We kindly invite you to our special AMA session to discuss topics related to the impact of the war in Ukraine and sanctions for Russia on Mintos, the state of relations with lending companies from Russia and Ukraine, and the effects on investors on Mintos.
AMA will be hosted by Martins Valters, Mintos Co-founder, COO/CFO on Monday, 7 March 2022 at 16:00 CET
Please check more information here:
https://help.mintos.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4603758562705-Live-Mintos-AMA-dedicated-to-the-current-state-of-the-market
-
Official comment
April 14, 2022
On the 14th of April, we had In Recovery Ask Me anything session.
Please see the specific part here, where the situation of Lending Companies from Russia is explained in detail: https://youtu.be/Mn0LOZKQr-8?t=670
March 25, 2022
Overview: the exclusion of Russia from the international economy
We are working on a detailed insight for investors about the structure of repayment processes from the lending companies from Russia and about the possible outlooks for recovery of funds related to investments in loans from this market. But first, we want to start with a general overview of how sanctions for Russia and the country’s response impact currents of international financial markets. The effects are extending to anyone with exposure in Russia, from the largest banks and investment funds to companies like Mintos.
We welcome you to share your comments and questions in the Mintos Community, and we will try to include them in the upcoming article, or answer them in the Community.The full overview can be found here: OVERVIEW
Update of the 11 March 2022 can be found here: UPDATE , please also find Ask Me Anything Sessions Recap: Recap: AMA
Update of the 4 and 8 March 2022 can be found here: UPDATE
Update of the 1 and 2 March 2022 can be found here: UPDATE
February 28, 2022
Russia-Ukraine war impact update: SWIFT ban, RUB plunge, pausing listing new loans from Belarus, and more
Below, we are sharing more information about the most recent developments and their impact on Mintos investors.
Full information can be found on our Blog post:
- Impact on banning Russian banks from SWIFT
It has been agreed to exclude a number of Russian banks from the SWIFT system, however, details about which exactly Russian banks will be affected by this decision, or what will be considered as a breach of sanctions are still unknown. Together with lending companies we have identified a few different routes that Russian lending companies could use as alternatives to SWIFT (e.g. China’s alternative solution, other non-EU banks).
- Most recent status of borrower repayments
It’s important to mention that as of today, we have not experienced any interruptions in transfers of borrower repayments to Mintos by Russian lending companies. Lending companies have reduced issuance volumes, and they’re closely monitoring borrowers’ repayment discipline. The only lending company on Mintos from Ukraine is obviously influenced by the state of emergency and martial law in the country. We will continue to be in close contact with lending companies from Russia and Ukraine and share important updates on our blog.
- Russian rouble plunges
The Russian rouble dived significantly against other currencies on Monday morning in an all-time low as markets assessed the impact of sanctions on Russia.
For now, we can’t predict to what extent lending companies will be affected by this. Several of the lending companies from Russia have full or partial currency hedging in place, but the current situation might be subject to the force majeure clause and maturity matching of used hedging instruments. This might lead to difficulties for lending companies to cover for currency risk.
- We are stopping listing loans from Belarus
As of 28 February, we’re limiting exposure to loans from Belarus to protect investors from potential risks in the light of recent developments:
We’re excluding loans from Belarus from the Primary Market and pausing placement of new loans from Belarus on the Mintos platform until further notice.
Existing loans from Belarus will remain in Mintos Strategies, so it will be possible to cash out these loans.
Mintos Secondary Market will remain open for loans from Belarus.- RUB currency exchange and withdrawals affected
We paused the currency exchange for RUB over the past weekend. After RUB has plunged around 30% on Monday morning, the RUB exchange function on Mintos remains unavailable, as the service provider Mintos uses for this function has paused the service due to unprecedented external factors in the financial markets (e.g. closed Moscow stock exchange).
Please note that at the moment, you might not be able to withdraw RUB from your Mintos investor account, or exchange RUB to EUR. In the upcoming days, we will make the exchange from RUB to EUR on investors’ behalf, for all who have available funds in RUB. Due to sanctions for Russia, the EU banks can’t hold RUB anymore and are finding the best ways to manage this.
- KZT exchange rate under close monitoring
The financial turmoil has had an impact also on the position of KZT and its exchange rate in servicer banks. As a result, currency exchange involving KZT might be interrupted. We will manage the situation in real-time, based on status in the markets and the availability of our exchange service provider.
February 25, 2022
Update about how we will approach RUB exchange and withdrawals
After our first reaction and pause of the RUB exchange activity to limit the currency risk, we decided to re-enable exchange, but in limited time periods. We will monitor RUB in real-time, and we will be enabling access to currency exchange during the working days while being cautious about fluctuations in the currency’s value.
For better control, we will be closing positions at the end of the working day to prevent the risk of negative exposure. Based on the assessment of the RUB standings, we will be opening currency exchange possibilities in the mornings. The exchange will be closed over the weekend.
Please note that you can not withdraw RUB from your Mintos investor account when the original investment was made by conversion of EUR to RUB. To withdraw the RUB balance, you need to convert it to EUR. It's possible to withdraw RUB to the bank accounts which accept this currency.We will inform you in case of any new changes.
February 24, 2022
Update: We’re limiting exposure to loans from Russia and Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, the Russia-Ukraine crisis turned into a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine has imposed martial law in the country, while this new development resonates across international financial markets. At the moment, we are observing a further growing risk of sanctions that might impact settlement transfers from these markets, and a currency risk that is already materializing, without predictable outcomes in the upcoming period.
To protect our investors from the heightened market and currency risk, we are:
- Excluding all loans from Russia and Ukraine from the Mintos Primary Market
- Removing all companies that issue loans in Russia and Ukraine from the Mintos strategies
- Pausing placement of new loans from Russia and Ukraine on the Mintos platform until the need to reassess the decision emerges
- Pausing currency exchange to and from RUB, for all currencies
Please note that:
- Mintos Secondary Market will remain open for investors’ activity with loans from Russia and Ukraine
- Once loans from these companies are removed from the Mintos strategies as a measure of protection for investors, investments in loans by these companies will not be available for the standard cashout. With a temporary removal of Russian and Ukrainian companies from the Mintos strategies, existing investments in these loans will be shown as “unavailable for cashout”. Still, liquidity is possible by selling these loans on the Mintos Secondary Market until further notice
- Currency exchange to and from RUB will be temporarily unavailable, and applicable exchange fees may be influenced by market dynamics relating to exchange rates for RUB.
Full Blog Post can be found here https://www.mintos.com/blog/update-were-limiting-exposure-to-loans-from-russia-and-ukraine/
-
Hello Lucia hello Mintos;
Why dont we hear any news or updates about Kviku Loans so far: See what information i got from Kviku itself by just simply write them why is there such a mismatch in communication? Why do we need to bring light into the dark ourselves and start questioning the lenders them self ? Is Mintos fooling the investors and taking benefits by holding the money back and tell us a different story ?
[Statement by Kviku] "Following our ongoing discussions and meetings with the Central Bank, given the large outstanding amount of foreign debt (significantly over the amount of other loan originators from Russia), we have been pushed by the CBR to repay outstanding debt with all foreign creditors via special S accounts, in order to preserve our license in Russia. As a compromise, we managed to get approval from the regulator to substitute the current liabilities from Mintos and other platforms with local RUB bonds and transfer them into special S accounts of the creditors instead of cash.
We believe that such transactions, will be more favorable for investors than cash repayments into S account, given the fact that those funds would most likely remain frozen until the imposed sanctions by the EU are lifted and the CBR reserves are unfrozen. At the same time, the issued bonds allow us to continue to monitor the situation and make an early repayment, as soon as geopolitical situation stabilizes.
All CBR approvals and bond documentation has been provided to Mintos back in November. The bond has been assigned the following ISIN: RU000A105F58."
5 -
@... !
People are asking questions and nobody from Mintos "team" gives a shit... What great "team" you are...
I appeal to every single investor: I am still gathering people (I have already contacted several) with whom to file a joint lawsuit against this "amazing" team that operates with our money, without clarity !!!
4 -
"we have started taking certain action already in November to speed up the recovery."
NOVEMBER? Maybe February or March?
1. What mintos did on Feb 25 to get any money back?
2. Why did Lime Zaim transfer 8.5 million when it should have been 10?
3. Why EcoFinance transferred 8.5 million when it should have 10?
4. Why the contract with the Creditter was badly written, and the bank asked to change it?
5. Which employee was responsible for the errors in the contract?
6. Which employee was responsible for the fact that EcoFinance failed to transfer the money?
7. Why haven't you responded to my emails for a month?
8. Why don't you call me back when I ask?
4 -
News from other p2p platform:
"Kviku tried to get the approval of the Central Bank of Russia to transfer higher amounts than the monthly limit couple of times, but so far, all attempts have been unsuccessful."
I have questions...1. Monthly limit is 10 million RUB. Where is this money? If they don't pay, they should pay interest. Is there a lawyer here?
2. What is going on with "“C” type accounts for repayment of debt to creditors from “unfriendly” states."- CBR proposal ?
3. Mintos does nothing to protect our interests. The RUB currency will depreciate. Can Kviku convert our funds in Russia to a more stable currency? EUR, USD
Lucja (Mintos) it is not Kviku update, you only use copy and paste.
4 -
1.) Why is Mintos not interested in giving investors convidents of being inside the right boot of P2P Platforms or simply been fooled by Mintos?
2.) What is mintos doing by clearing doubts of all investors on this platform when e.g. it comes to Kviku loans?
Questions to Kviku Loans:
a.) Since Feb. 2022 i am listening to the promise that Russian creditors will be allowed to send 10 Mio. Rubel every month, why we have not even received a single Rubel from Kviku by now?
b.) Can we see the cash on the debtor account at least a print screen that the money it self is present or exist since you keep on talking about that it cannot been transferred. But proof it is at least there and frozen for other investments.
c.) When will we receive the first transaction from Kviku?
d.) When will you tell us the truth what is really going on e.g. is Kviku maybe running in bankruptcy?
4 -
Hi Lucia,
i thought there are no losses from russian borrowers and you are just working on finding ways to send out money from Russia to a Euro Account which is restricted by sanctions. It seems you having already more information that all users are waiting for. Can you share information from which lending companies the losses might be expected? Could this be by any chance by the biggest cake of all (Kviku) who has not made any payments at all?
4 -
Hey Pawel Andrzej Lechowicz;
if you know any class action suit law case going on by now against Mintos let us know many might will jump in there to get some money back based on such information policy and other actions been or not been taken on time by Mintos, thinks for me look very fishy by now and get more noticeable day by day of the way customers of Mintos been informed and treatet.
4 -
HI MINTOS!
I trusted you. For the moment I still do. I have a large sum in my strategy which invests 90% in Russia (which you have chosen, I have not chosen Russia exclusively in the strategy). This sum is an important part of my retirement provision. I couldn't see this coming and didn't have it on the screen in time to pull it out.
Nevertheless, it is the task of MINTOS to clarify whether SWIFT and the situation have a strong impact on our funds. Are our funds at risk? Will they be frozen and made available again after the crisis has ended? Or are the banks that are sanctioned not affected by this?
Please make a general statement. I have seen that Kviku, for example, is not a bank or one of the sanctioned major banks.
Please provide clarification so that some here can live in peace.
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 -
Since Mintos doesn't respond to our queries, I contacted two Russian lending companies on my own. Once they reply, I will share the answers with you here.
3 -
I would like to clarify that Mintos' approach is in no way a "protective measure" for investors but only a measure to safeguard Mintos and its partners themselves.
Even if 5.9 in the Mintos Terms and Conditions is referred to again and again, this paragraph is not valid, as the implemented measures only served to secure Mintos and its partners and an enormous loss of customer funds was foreseeable. Until now, various other options would have been available to significantly reduce the loss of customers, which partly amounts to far more than 65%. Mintos investors should have been shown these possibilities. But this has not happened in this "panic reaction" of Mintos!
The customer must be compulsorily offered a payout in RUB. Since at this point in time, payments can still be made worldwide in RUB and RUB accounts can still be opened at banks.
I would like to clarify here that I personally do not agree with the procedure or the automatic EUR/RUB exchange and do not accept this.
Greetings from Switzerland
*To the community: It should be noted that Sberbank is not excluded from the SWIFT network and credit institutions and banks can "simply route" transactions through it. Thus, the credit institutions can also continue to function. considering the facts, Mintos' action regarding MUA 5.9 is pure arbitrariness.
3 -
Weekly update... More than a month ...
Again nice communication from Mintos...3 -
@Annija
Could you take us seriously and start answer the questions?
As i see, you are active in other threads.3 -
Hello,
News from IUVO platform for Kviku LO
"Kviku received the right from russian central bank to make money transfers of up to RUB 10 mln per month to all of their international creditors combined that are in the “unfriendly states” list. Each creditor has to receive a portion of this amount that is proportional of its share in the total debt of Kviku to creditors in “unfriendly states”. The share of iuvo for June is RUB 900 000."
What portion goes to Mintos?
"The transfer for June is received. Therefore, the received money transfer from Kviku is in the Russian currency. The amount is already distributed to investor accounts in RUB."
What is the situation on mintos, are payments finally made in rubles?
Currency exchange EUR/RUB - still not possible, there they are still looking for methods, but they offer an alternative to investors
"If an investor that has received an amount from Kviku in RUB has a bank account in the Russian currency, we can make a transfer to it"
What intermediaries does Mintos plan to use?
What intermediaries did you try to use and it didn't work? IUVO informs everyone about this, why doesn't this work on Mintos?
@... I suspect you'll probably pretend you're not here, but these questions are for you.
3 -
Hi Anna (Mintos)
Is there anything new about more repayments from russian companies like kviku, creditter etc?
Lucja said one month ago: "Mintos and the Russian lending companies are working with local consultants to obtain the Central Bank’s approval."
What is the status here? Revo was allowed to pay back 1.3 Million.I cant understand, why Revo is allowed, others not.
Please give us an info hereto.
Thanks
Philipp
3 -
Hi mintos - I appreciate your updates in your blog Russia-Ukraine war impact updates but there has been no update in DEC.
I seen a reduction for 2 lenders only back in OCT/NOV 22
- EcoFinance: ~4%
- Revo Technology ~33%
No changes in outstanding amounts since then for EcoFinance and Revo Technology or ever for Kviku, Lime Zaim, SOS Credit, Creditter and Dozarplati.
And yet in your update from 10 NOV you said:
EcoFinance
We received a payment of €121k from Ecofinance in October that will be distributed to investors soon. In November we expect a sum closer to the RUB 10m monthly limit set by the Central Bank of Russia.
Dozarplati
The repayment agreement has been signed. The company will start making payments within the RUB 10m monthly limit set by the Central Bank of Russia from November.
I assume, the 4% reduction for EcoFinance is related to the €121k from OCT. But what happened to the expected payment of 10m RUB in NOV?
And what happened to the expected payments from Dozaplati?
Why can't you provide details like this: https://peerberry.com/peerberry-statistics/
They have a dedicated section for Repayments of war-affected loans on their statistics page which I find most useful, especially, as you can drill into individual lenders and see the progress.
3 -
Hello Lucja. The problem is that Mintos has not reached any agreement with Kviku. No contract or debt repayment plan, and the legal route in the current situation simply does not make sense. Already in May I wrote about the need for the Mintos team to start talks with Riga High Schools regarding some form of repayment of at least part of the debt and the risk of nationalization of the capital of citizens of countries that Russia considers hostile. It would also be good to correct or explain the recent information that Mintos representatives only in November decided to start talks with Kviku regarding the repayment of the deb
3 -
Lucja (Mintos) It is unbelievable that you post the information on losses regarding russian credits without disclosing further information. You obviously don't have the slightest idea on how to communicate with your investors.
3 -
@Lucja it's a shame you're not telling us the truth. I hope mintos will be prosecuted for poor investor protection and lying.
3 -
@ALL INVESTORS
isn't it time to get together and initiate a class action lawsuit? who would be with it? let´s meet on an other place / videocall etc..
3 -
I have even better idea: Let us ban all the loans from every country.
Seriously, Mintos is basically protecting the new comers, not the ones who are already invested. There is nothing that protects those investments that are already been made.
That is also important investor protection which Mintos as a regulated financial institution is expected to do.
2 -
@Mintos, I think you owe us information whether you already started working with Russian lending companies on a solution that will allow them to transfer money to Mintos in case SWIFT transfers are blocked for them. Look at the Secondary market, how panically loans are sold out there but no one wants to buy them. Actually, currently it's even not possible to sell a loan because system processes publishing it on the Secondary market endlessly. It puts my further cooperation with Mintos under question mark. Same as situation with Turkish lending companies. How even did you allow them to sell non-hedged currency loans via Mintos in current Turkish economic situation? It's ridiculous! Even me when buying currency loans I hedge them. If Minos had a small share in every loan, maybe then would be more cautious when assessing risk.
2 -
Let's play assumptions. Let's assume that swift restrictions come into action and assume that it's the only problem. Lending companies continue to operate as usual. In this scenario:
A) Are there mechanisms in place for transferring funds from lending companies to investors?
B) Is there any reason to assume that anything else other than delays in payments would occur?
2 -
Hello Mintos team,
I am in contact with the lenders from Russia and Belarus myself and it is clear that no further payments can be made to Mintos at the moment (because of the sanctions).
I know the war and sanctions came as a surprise to all of us, but the risk of something like this happening has always been real and I am disappointed that there are no contingency plans in place.
The affected lenders have a rating of 7 and 8 and I'm sure that the main failure at the moment is that the money cannot be transferred. The money is there, but cannot be transferred. It must be possible to solve this (even if someone drives there personally and gets the money)
So please take care of your tasks now and make sure that the money can be transferred back to Mintos.
There are more than enough options for this: Bitcoins, the Chinese system, banks of foreign lenders (e.g. KVIKU has a bank in Cyprus), Western Union, etc.
We don't know what's to come, so I want every penny in my account as soon as possible. Me and I think everyone else also accept Bitcoins or various other means of payment.
Please take care of it as soon as possible!
Thanks
Alex
2 -
hi there - i was waiting 7 days for a signal after i made my request for a phone call of your customer service. today i got my slot. 4 hours bevor the slot it is cancelled because your employee is ill? i asked for other teammates, the guy told me to start process new!!!!! again wait for 7 days?????????????? mintos, thats really a shame..... I WANT TO TALK TO YOU. NOW.
Beschreibung: Event Name: 30 Minute call
What is your phone number?: +49 1522 XXXXX
Cancellation Reason: Hello Philipp,
I hope you are doing well.
Please accept my sincere apologies, I will need to cancel this call as I am not feeling well and I will need to take a sick day.
Upon my return from sick leave, I will contact you by sending an email with the invitation for booking our call.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Kind Regards
Powered by Calendly.com2 -
(Sberbank and Gazprombank havent' been banned yet.)
@Mintos, maybe you can make Russian lenders to buyback the loans at least partially.2 -
It looks PeerBerry's Russian partner lending companies are much more cautious than Mintos ones.
2 -
Now I am angry. Why is Mintos not able to react in the same way? Mintos is the biggest Platform and I think this should be the minimum Mintos does for their investors.
I stopped reinvesting the money.
Russia, Ukraine, Kazachstan, many other examples... And I always loose money. Enough id enough. I want my money back!
2 -
"investments that you make are very much correlated also to revenue that we make"
Mintos COO/CFO Martins Valters during today's AMA session.
Folks, what don't you understand. The more money we get into, the more money they earn. So why would they ban lenders like Wowo, Kviku, Revo Technology? To cut Mintos revenue? They don't take provision for withdrawing money but for depositing it into loans by us. They also take provision for Secondary market transactions (0.85%). Look how many Russian loans are available there now.2 -
Hi Anna,
couple questions:
1. Pending payment means the payment is in a Mintos controlled account and hence the full amount is secured it's just not leaving Russia at the moment?
2. In my case I have diversification settings turned on yet I now find 1/3 of invested amount is with 1 lender, how can this be?
3. not all banks have been thrown out of Swift so why not shift to one of those?
thanks
2
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Komentāri
240 comments