In Mongolia, while 64 percent of SMEs are women-owned, the majority are underserved or unserved by financial institutions. Through cooperation with XacBank, this commitment seeks to provide the financing needed by women-owned SMEs in the country and offer better financial and business advisory services to women entrepreneurs.

“Women entrepreneurs are critical to economic growth and development in Mongolia. During a time when the majority of women-owned SMEs in Mongolia are underserved or unserved by financial institutions, OPIC is proud to partner with IFC and Xacbank to help these female entrepreneurs gain access to finance and new opportunities,” said Acting OPIC President and CEO Dev Jagadesan.

Marcos Brujis, IFC Director of Financial Institutions Group said, “Strong economic growth cannot be attained without gender equality and the empowerment of one-half of the world’s population. IFC’s Banking on Women program, and partnerships like this with OPIC and XacBank, have a critical role to play in unlocking and financing the vast untapped potential of female entrepreneurs.”

"SMEs constitute a vital part of the economic foundation of Mongolia. XacBank has been a front runner in providing financial solutions to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Together with OPIC and IFC, XacBank is opening new opportunities for SMEs and providing competitive financing opportunities," said Xacbank’s President Amartuvshin Hanibal.

The commitment is part of OPIC’s target goal of providing $100 million in loans to women owned SMEs as part of the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF) by March 2022. WEOF is a Goldman Sachs Foundation and IFC partnership to increase access to capital for women entrepreneurs in emerging markets.

Launched in late 2010, IFC’s Banking on Women business invests in and provides advisory services to financial institutions to scale up and improve financial and non-financial services for women and women-led SMEs globally. Through Banking on Women, IFC has US $1.36 billion in cumulative investment commitments in 43 projects in 24 countries dedicated to financing women SME customers, and has led 33 advisory services projects with financial institutions in 23 countries to scale up financial and non-financial services to women customers.