Mintos excludes all loans from Russia and Ukraine from its main market

Europe’s biggest loan marketplace Mintos has taken the “next steps to protect investors”, and is excluding all loans from Russia and Ukraine from its main market.

Mintos is taking a series of measures to shield investors from the potential financial fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier in the week, the lending marketplace said it said it was taking the “precautionary measure” of limiting investors’ access to loans from the two countries on its Conservative Strategy, which is made up of lending firms with the best portfolio quality.

Mintos has now ramped up measures and is now excluding all loans from Russia and Ukraine from its main Primary Market.

The platform has also paused currency exchanges to and from the rouble for all currencies.

Mintos said it would be monitoring rouble currency developments on a daily basis.

It said its move to exclude all loans from Russia and Ukraine from the primary market would begin straight away and last until further notice.

“In the meantime, we will closely monitor the situation and adjust our business decisions accordingly,” Mintos said.

“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.

“We are taking the next steps on the Mintos platform to protect investors from market and currency risks materialising in light of this unfortunate event.”

The move by Mintos will impact loans from Creditter, DoZarplati, EcoFinance, Kviku, Lime, Mikro Kapital, Mokka, and Soscrdit.

Mintos has previously removed access to loans issued in Kazakhstan, responding to social upheaval in the country.