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Altogether 65 members attended the monthly meeting on May 24 at the Khan Bank Theater on Seoul Street. The change of venue was found necessary because the space at the Open Society Forum had become too small for the strong attendance at recent meetings.
Mr. Laurenz Melchers was in the chair and made several announcements about upcoming events. A meeting with the Prime Minister was likely to be held in the near future. A big German delegation is coming, with its focus mainly on mining. Mr. Layton Croft, who has been associated with the BCM since the very beginning and is on its Board of Directors, will be leaving Mongolia soon. His absence will be deeply felt.
Executive Director Jim Dwyer revealed that membership now stood at 145. The most recent additions are Crown Worldwide, a Hong Kong-based relocation company; Sustainability East Asia, an environmental and occupational health safety consultancy; Knauf Gips Mongolia, which deals in construction and interior decoration material; Kito, a real estate developer; and Aspire Mining, an Australian-based miner acquiring a Mongolian coal deposit from Altai Gold.
The first of the evening’s three presentations was by Mr. D. Mandakh, Chairman, Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection of Mongolia. His organization is responsible for implementation of the Competition Law and also of the Consumer Protection Law. Their goal is to maintain a sustainable economy and this they do through investigations and market studies. For example, he cited how 20 audit firms have been fined for keeping their rates too high for smaller firms to use their services for the mandatory annual income of accounts. However, the present provisions of the law permit a maximum of fine of MNT250,000 which, Mr. Mandakh felt, was “a silly amount”. Even then, the quantum of fines levied has jumped up from MNT1,840,500 in 2009 to MNT12,670,000 in the first four months of 2010.
Mongolia does not have a tradition of competition in its economy and this makes their job somewhat difficult, but they are closely collaborating with similar bodies in other countries to identify areas of expansion and improvement.
Mr. Marat Utegenov, CEO, Mongolia Development Resources (MDR), which is all set to become the first MSE-listed investment holding company, listed their activities and said they hoped to begin secondary offers next year. Work will begin in real earnest as soon as the Financial Regulatory Commission grants them re-registration as Mongolia Development Resources under a new prospectus. Mr. Utgenov ended by asserting his company’s commitment to protecting shareholders’ rights and to corporate governance.
This last was the subject of the final presentation, by Mr. J. Unenbat, Executive Director, Corporate Governance Development Center. The Center became functional in June last year. Earlier efforts to instill some norms of governance, particularly in banking, had not come to much, but the Center has been making serious efforts to present the concept of corporate governance as more than a “fashion statement”. It now has 12 core module courses, including those for Secretaries and also Directors, and also offers customized training. It has started governance courses for MBA students, has conducted training for trainers, as also in-house training. USAID and IFC have been regular partners. Mr. Unenbat hoped the awareness will gradually grow, for only a reputation for proper corporate governance will attract and keep capital here.
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Monthly Meeting Recap