At the Mongolia Investment Forum in London, Golomt Bank did more than report a strong year. It signalled its ambition to list on the London Stock Exchange, and made the financial case for why international investors should take that ambition seriously.
A signal at MIF London
Golomt Bank, one of Mongolia's five systemically important banks, made its case across two sessions at MIF London. Batkhorloo E., Head of Investor Relations, presented the corporate pitch, and Odonbaatar, CEO, joined Philip Middleton, Managing Director at STJ Advisors, for a fireside chat on the bank's growth.
For a frontier bank, an LSE listing would be a milestone: access to a deeper pool of capital, a higher bar for disclosure, and a valuation set by global investors rather than a thin domestic market. The forum was, in effect, the opening conversation.
The financial case
The numbers behind the ambition are specific. Golomt generates a return on equity of 23.8 percent, among the highest of any bank in Mongolia. It holds roughly 22 percent of banking-system assets, 21 percent of loans and 19 percent of deposits, making it the country's largest corporate bank and second-largest consumer bank. Asset quality has strengthened even as the balance sheet has grown. Stage-3 loans have continued to fall and now stand at 3.3 percent, the SME book runs at a non-performing ratio of 2.2 percent, and its women-led SME portfolio at just 1.8 percent. The bank carries B+ ratings from all three major agencies, with S&P's outlook positive.
A proven track record
Golomt Bank has already demonstrated its ability to repeatedly access international capital markets and broaden its investor base. Its debut international bond in May 2024 with three-year US$300 million senior unsecured issue carrying an 11.0% yield was a first issuance by commercial bank in decade. The bank subsequently tapped the market with a further US$100 million in December 2024 at an 8.5% yield, followed by a US$50 million five-year green and social bond listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in January 2025.
Golomt then expanded beyond the conventional USD market, issuing Mongolia's first private-sector Samurai bond in Japan—a three-year JPY15 billion transaction that attracted more than 30 Japanese institutional investors. The bond carried a 1.85% yield and was guaranteed by SMBC Seoul Branch, providing the bank with access to a new investor base and a diversified source of international funding.
Its latest USD transaction represents a further step-change in market access. Golomt completed a three-year US$500 million senior unsecured bond at a 7.95% coupon, with orders reaching approximately US$2.1 billion, more than seven times the initial target and participation from more than 150 institutional investors across the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. The final pricing represented a 387.5-basis-point reduction in yield compared with its inaugural 2024 international bond.
Taken together, the progression from an 11.0% yield on the 2024 debut to 7.95% on the latest USD transaction provides a clear market-based indication of the improvement in Golomt's offshore funding conditions. It also demonstrates that the bank has moved from establishing access to international capital markets to building a repeat-issuer track record, diversifying its investor base and achieving materially lower USD funding costs.
From bonds to equity
An LSE listing would be the next step in that same story. Debt investors repriced Golomt as its disclosure improved, through first-in-Mongolia quarterly earnings calls in English and Mongolian, published management commentary and a voluntary half-year review. A public listing would put the same question to equity investors: whether to value a 23.8 percent return on equity as they would any comparable bank, rather than at a frontier discount. A listing alone would not settle it, since equities are judged on growth, liquidity and governance as well as disclosure. However, it would let equity investors reach the verdict the bond market already has. Those who reach it early would capture the re-rating rather than pay for it once it is complete.
The full pitch deck and further information on Golomt Bank are available on the CMM platform: https://capitalmarkets.mn/directory/golomt-bank.
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