Easy Microfinance, a for-profit microfinance institution (MFI) in Myanmar, recently began offering two repayment channels powered by Ongo, a digital payment service provider in the country. This allows the MFI’s borrowers to make loan repayments through the Ongo app and at Ongo agent locations. This development comes amid increased demand for remote service options due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Frank Snieders, the Managing Director of Easy Microfinance, added that the MFI is “offering flexible payment solutions for clients whose businesses are affected by COVID-19.” This includes moratoria and rescheduling of loans “to achieve lower monthly installments” for clients who have lost all or part of their income, respectively. Since March 2020, when the economic effects of the pandemic began to spread worldwide, Easy Microfinance has disbursed new loans totaling approximately MMK 30 billion (USD 23.5 million).
Easy Microfinance offers group and individual loans in seven regions of the country. Loan sizes range from MMK 100,000 (USD 80) to MMK 10 million (USD 8,000) and carry terms of six months to two years. Fees range from 1 percent to 4 percent of the loan amount, and 2.33 percent interest is charged monthly on declining balances. Individual borrowers must provide a guarantor, and all borrowers must keep 5 percent of the loan amount in a savings account. This account pays interest at a rate of 14 percent per year.
Established in 2016, Easy Microfinance is licensed by the Financial Regulatory Department of the Ministry of Planning and Finance of the Union of Myanmar. For the year ending September 2020, it had a loan portfolio equivalent on USD 35.2 million outstanding to 139,000 clients, whom it serves via 24 branches.
Founded in 2008, Ongo operates in 73 cities in Myanmar with approximately 1,900 agents serving 130 corporate clients, 26,000 merchants and 750,000 consumers. Ongo is the brand name of Ronoc Myanmar Limited, a subsidiary of Ireland-based investment and advisory services firm Ronoc. Financial data on the firm are unavailable.
By Romil Pandey, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Direct contact with Easy Microfinance
Ongo homepage
https://ongo.com.mm/
Past MicroCapital article on Easy Microfinance
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-yoma-bank-lending-easy-microfinance-5m-to-reach-28k-additional-borrowers-in-myanmar/
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