Mintos delays Notes launch, blaming local tax setups in EU countries

Pointing the finger at “local tax and institutional systems that are not yet fully adjusted for the needs of relatively new fintech products”.

Unexpected delays have hit loan marketplace Mintos in its plan to convert its existing loans into Notes, a process that was due to start last August.

In a post yesterday entitled ‘Notes on Mintos will launch later this year’, the company detailed “​​unforeseen limitations in some EU countries” that had caused the holdup.

“These limitations are a part of practices established in the local tax and institutional systems that are not yet fully adjusted for the needs of relatively new fintech products (such as Notes),” Mintos wrote.

As a reminder, Mintos was granted approval by the Latvian financial regulator in August 2021 to transform its business into a regulated financial investment marketplace.

The approval meant that loans made through its marketplace could be converted into Notes, and would subsequently be covered by additional protections, including notional investor compensation schemes (the equivalent of FSCS protection in the UK).

CEO and co-founder Martins Sulte at the time said the move was: “a cornerstone for us to bring investing in loans mainstream”.

He had planned to immediately begin converting loans into Notes, start offering new Notes rather than loans, and aim to have Mintos exclusively operating in Notes by January 2022.

This week, the company’s blog post didn’t specify a new launch timeline, only that it would happen “later this year”.

“Therefore, Notes will be launched as soon as we have ensured that the most appropriate solutions are in place,” the post concluded.

Mintos will also be hosting an AMA (Ask Mintos Anything) session shortly with the company’s co-founder and COO/CFO Martins Valters, to answer any questions investors may have.