ICFG Ltd (LON:ICFG) Interim Chief Executive Officer Enkhmaral Batkhuyag caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the company’s journey, strategic priorities, and bold moves into AI-powered finance and digital insurance solutions.
Q1: You’ve recently been appointed to ICFG as interim CEO. Can you tell us a bit about your background?
A1: I’m actually a lawyer by training, and I did my Master of Law in London and also did my MBA in Singapore. I started working in Mongolia as a lawyer at a corporate law firm specialising in corporate mergers, M&A, litigation, corporate transactions, and so on and before I jumped to the investment banking sector, I was working as a partner.
In 2018, I joined ICFG Group, or namely Invescor Capital, to work on investment advisory and underwriting services so my journey with Invescor really started seven years ago. In those years, I have worked as Chief Operations Officer and worked on major capital market transactions such as Invescor’s IPO, FBO, its bond issuance, whether it’s public or private, and also Aspect Securities and so on.
During that time, I have also provided strategic legal advice throughout the group. I was working on M&A deals and international expansion, so I believe that gives me a comprehensive, in-depth knowledge of how the group operates throughout.
For the last three years, I have been based in Singapore, which is where I am now, and I have worked on the Reverse Takeover project, which recently happened in 2025 so that was a huge milestone for us.
I do think that with my knowledge, that in-depth experience, that I will be able to bring Invescor into the next chapter of its growth.
Q2: For investors who may be new to the group, can you give us a reminder of what the company does and the markets that you operate in?
A2: ICFG really started back in 2016 in Mongolia’s Invescor NBFI and at the time, the financial service was really not very developed in Mongolia, and even though there were microfinance institutions, they were heavily paper based and didn’t really have AI credit scoring, and it was quite slow. So, many of the borrowers who did not have bank access, they had to reach out to pawn shops or day lenders and so on.
What we actually did that was different at that time was we were able to combine traditional microfinance service practices and innovative technology and innovative edge. So, through combining these two together, we are actually able to provide a wide variety of services to borrowers, such as lending and also deposits.
That also allowed us to launch Pocket, which started as a microfinance microlending application, now it’s turned into a comprehensive financial marketplace. On that application, actually other banks and other non-banks can provide their services to the end users so it’s really the first of its kind in Mongolia and also in Central Asia.
With that, in a very short span of time, Invescor NBFI had become one of the top players in Mongolia. By end of 2024, the market share was about 14.4%, and we’ve had a loan portfolio of £177.4 million. So, based on all this know-how, we have expanded ourselves into Kurdistan and Kazakhstan market, and now we are preparing to enter into Uzbekistan.
In Kurdistan, only starting in 2021, now by the end of 2024, we have actually become one of the top 10 players. So, really at ICFG, we actually pride ourselves as we are able to combine advanced technology and then innovative management, so that we are able to transform a relatively underdeveloped microfinance sector and also to increase financial inclusion one step at a time.
Today, our group company actually has four main pillar businesses. One, of course, Invescor NBFI, that’s microfinance, and two is Invescor Capital, that’s investment banking and underwriting services, and then there’s Invescor Property, which provides property development and management services, and of course, our IT and AI development through AILab LLC.
So, these four companies, they all operate and create synergies throughout the group and really optimise our results. I should also say that Invescor NBFI went public on Mongolian Stock Exchange in 2019, and then we did a follow up in 2022, and our recent milestone is, of course, the reverse takeover and London Stock Exchange admission in 2025.
Q3: What immediate priorities are you and the leadership team focusing on, and how do they position the group for the future?
A3: Right now, we see three main priorities. One is, of course, investor engagement. We want to strengthen our relationship with the London-based investors, as well as, of course, leverage our LSE listing, not only for financing, but really to build a partnership with global institutions. We really had strong ties with international organisations such as ADB, EBRD, and then, of course, with impact funds such as Blue Orchard and EMF and we are really keen on expanding that network.
Second one is, of course, maintaining a strong corporate governance across the group. As we are growing very fast, ensuring a robust corporate governance that actually meets the international best practice is very important for us now.
The third one is, of course, expansion. So, we are scaling to Central Asia, and we are preparing for saturation markets. As you probably know, globally, there are 1.4 billion people who are underbanked or unbanked so we do see an opportunity with our AI-driven infrastructure that we can actually manage the risks effectively and deliver accessible, sustainable products at a larger scale.
Q4: As we look towards the next few months then and into 2026, what key developments or milestones should investors be watching out for from ICFG?
A4: Some of the key developments we’ll share when the timing is right but what I can say right now is that our half-yearly result is coming out later this month. So, I think this will give the investors and our shareholders a clear picture of our growth trajectory.
Beyond that, I should say that the group has always been somewhat a trailblazer or a snowpiercer, if you will. So, whether it’s through FinTech innovations or the Mongolian largest NBFI at this time or London listing, we have always explored new territories.
The next exciting step for our company is to move into a digital insurance business. We’ve partnered with MobiCom, which is actually Mongolia’s largest telecom service provider, to launch MobiLife. With that MobiLife, we are able to provide a digital life insurance service to MobiCom’s 1.7 million customers, that will be the first one in Mongolia and also a big step into our InsurTech journey.
Of course, I should say that investors should look out for more. We have several exciting new initiatives planned in this year and in 2026 so I believe that will be able to highlight ICFG’s growth potential and also our innovative edge as well.
