Company: Ard Financial Group
Story
In 2005 I was CEO of XacBank, and I had just established EIT – an employee investment fund.
This fund eventually became known as Ard Financial Group.
I started Ard Financial Group for the same reason I have made any other business decision throughout my career: I want to make an impact on the world as an entrepreneur, banker, and capitalist who believes in social income redistribution. On a personal level, I want my life to be full of new exciting experiences, and building Ard Financial Group gives me that outlet.
When I established EIT, it evolved over the years. In 2007, EIT created the first private pension fund in Mongolia (which is now known as Ard Life). Two years later, we acquired Monet Capital – a brokerage company which is now known as Ard Securities.
As EIT continued to grow, I saw major potential in transforming it into a larger holdings company. In 2013, we officially changed its name to Ard Financial Group. We also changed its strategy. Ard became a diversified financial services holding company with the overarching goal of increasing shareholders’ equity through investing in, and developing, leading financial services and technology companies.
Since then, we have bought or founded 20 different companies operating in various regulated industries, and we try growing them into leaders within their sectors. While doing that, we try to incorporate them into one platform, known as Ard.
Over the years, we have introduced many products and services including: Ard Insurance, Ard Credit, Ard Assets Savings, ArdCash, ArdApp, ArdShop, and ArdCoin – the first and only cryptocurrency in Mongolia.
As our success continued to grow, we acquired Mongol Post when it was privatized.
In 2020, Ard Credit received its digital currency license from the Bank of Mongolia. Ard Financial Group and its publicly listed affiliates were also included in Mongolia’s Top 20 index, and Ard Credit introduced an international money transfer service to over 100 countries.
We have made all of our products and services accessible to customers through ArdApp – which I consider my greatest achievement to-date at Ard. It took years, and many resources, to develop this app which we nicknamed “Super App.”
Impact
Our cryptocurrency, ArdCoin, has greatly impacted Mongolia’s citizens and its economy. Since December 2019, it has increased in value 300 times and as of today, in a country of three million people, one million are ArdCoin customers. ArdCoin is also a loyalty program which helped people stay afloat during COVID-19’s massive economic crisis. Customers could trade the coins they had collected for free, or bought at low prices, for money – helping them earn money from home during lockdowns. We hear from many people about how this alternative income helped during the pandemic.
Throughout my career, it has always been important to me to make financial services easily accessible to people. Thanks to ArdApp, our clients now have access to all of their products and services including savings, investments, insurance, ArdCoins and our online store ArdShop. It’s our “all-in-one” app that brings all of Ard’s products and services into one place, and 1.2 million users have downloaded it since its launch.
Ard Financial Group has also sponsored and worked on many projects and campaigns that give back to the community, including: activities at special needs schools, advocacy for para-athletes, and our “No one left behind. Together.” project. This project focuses on equal employment opportunities for those who are disabled, and makes our company’s products more accessible.