Economy and commerce
Banking and financial services
PM Defends Interest Rates
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday lashed out at the opposition party’s concerns over the interest rates charged by commercial banks to farmers. SRP lawmaker Yim Sovann said commercial banks in Cambodia charge customers very high interest rates, and said it is much higher than in other ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051665645/Business/pm-defends-interest-rates.html
Cambodia’s Small Businesses Serve as Backbone of Sustainable Economy
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced in late March that the nation was on target to move from the status of a low-income to a lower-middle-income nation by the end of 2013, ranking it the 15th country that obtained high economic growth in the world in the ...
Japanese bank to boost local investments
Japanese Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) signed an agreement yesterday with local Canadia Bank to shore up Japanese growth in Cambodia and to demonstrate its confidence in the Kingdom’s financial sector. BTMU’s managing executive officer, Takami Onodera, and Pung Kheav Se, chairman of Canadia Bank, yesterday ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051065537/Business/japanese-bank-to-boost-local-investments.html
Insurance Institute To Boost Skills in Kingdom
An insurance training centre is being planned in Cambodia to develop local expertise lacking in the Kingdom’s nascent insurance industry. The institute hopes to offer diploma courses to industry leaders here so they in turn will be qualified to provide insurance training to others, such as ...
New MFI To Launch Operations
A new microfinance institution (MFI), ORO Financecorp Plc, is set to open in Cambodia, according to the director-general of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). Cambodia already has 35 registered MFIs, according to a recent report by the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA). Last week, the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050765436/Business/new-mfi-to-launch-operations.html
Mobile Banking Services On A Rise
F1soft Company, a software service provider that makes banking transactions available via phone, had commenced operations in Cambodia, company officials said yesterday during a workshop. Sean Thorninn, a lecturer in economics at the Limkokwing University and expert in Cambodia’s landscape of microfinance institutions (MFI), told ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050765437/Business/mobile-banking-services-on-a-rise.html
Government Mulls Issuing Sovereign Bonds
Cambodia is considering offering sovereign bonds to raise more revenue for the national budget and move away from its dependence on overseas aid, a senior central bank official said Sunday. National Bank of Cambodia director-general Nguon Sokha said the Ministry of Economy and Finance was currently ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/government-mulls-issuing-sovereign-bonds-21989/
Cambodia's micro-lenders record 24 pct lending growth in Q1
Cambodia’s 35 microfinance institutions had lent 1 billion U.S. dollars to customers by the end of March this year, up 24 percent from 808 million U.S. dollars it lent at the end of last year, the data of Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) showed Wednesday. On the ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-05/03/c_132357476.htm
Prakas Set to Control Tax Agents
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) last month signed a prakas, a ministerial decision, to ensure tax agents’ professionalism, an insider told the Post yesterday. After the full implementation of Prakas 455, signed on April 12, agents have to pay one million riel to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050265367/Business/prakas-set-to-control-tax-agents.html
Huge Increase in MFI Loans, Deposits
More economic activity and a better understanding of using formal financial services among rural residents are leading to good loan performance rates and increases in savings deposits in Cambodia’s microfinance industry, according to industry sources. The loan portfolios of the 35 registered microfinance institutions (MFI) and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050265366/Business/huge-increase-in-mfi-loans-deposits.html
Online Trader Eyes Kingdom
An online trading firm based in the tax haven of Cyprus is planning to open a subsidiary in Cambodia, an account manager at IronFX’s headquarters in Cyprus said yesterday. “We are on the planning stage in Cambodia. We are now studying law and regulations in the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013043065307/Business/online-trader-eyes-kingdom.html
World Bank Says Credit Growth Still a Risk
The World Bank has warned that the rapid growth of lending by Cambodia’s Banks is still a concern, despite a recent slow-down in credit disbursals. “Credit growth, which has been driven largely by wholesale and retail financing, and starting in 2011 agriculture financing, has eased to ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/world-bank-says-credit-growth-still-a-risk-20690/
Credit growth in Cambodia's banking sector slightly up in 1st two months
Cambodia’s banking industry recorded a slight increase in lending in the first two months of this year after a sharp rise last year, according to a consolidated data provided by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Saturday. The data showed that the kingdom’s 33 commercial ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-04/28/c_132347546.htm
Mortgage Lending Rises for New Home-Buyers
Cambodians, particularly young adults, are more often turning to banks to help them buy their homes, according to figures obtained from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) yesterday. From $179 million in 2008, the total sum lent out to those buyers fell to $94.5 million ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mortgage-lending-rises-for-new-home-buyers-20083/
Cambodia's leading bank inks deal with UnionPay International for payment services
Acleda Bank, a leading commercial bank in Cambodia, on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UnionPay International on payment services for mutual benefits, according to the bank’s statement. Xu Luode, president of China UnionPay and vice-chairman of UnionPay International, said currently, UnionPay cards reached ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-04/23/c_132333810.htm
Insuring for higher education
Canada-based life insurance company Manulife has launched a product intended to provide parents with security for their children’s education, and officials at the firm say they are optimistic about its prospects. Manulife’s research found that even families who were financially struggling would take advantage of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013042365160/Business/insuring-for-higher-education.html
BoC is set to expand after rapid growth
Having seen rapid growth since launching in Cambodia two years ago, the Bank of China (BoC) plans to expand its business operations here. According to a Xinhua report, BoC’s deputy governor Zhu Shuming said during his visit to Cambodia last Friday that its local operations have ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013042265138/Business/boc-is-set-to-expand-after-rapid-growth.html
Bank of China to raise business operations in Cambodia: deputy-governor
The Bank of China is going to expand its business operations in Cambodia after it was launched here two years ago and seen rapid business growth, Zhu Shuming, visiting deputy governor of Bank of China, said Friday. Speaking at a meeting with Chea Chanto, governor of ...
MFI Increases Loans as Economy Grows
As rising economic growth spurred demand for personal loans, Prasac, Cambodia’s biggest microfinance institution (MFI), provided $106 million in loans between March, 2012 and March, 2013, an increase of 66 per cent compared with the corresponding period a year earlier. “Loans [were] mainly used for service ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013041965111/Business/mfi-increases-loans-as-economy-grows.html
Government Amends Anti-Money Laundering Law
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a draft law amending three articles in the law on anti-money laundering and the financing of terrorism in order to make Cambodia more investment-friendly. Last month, the National Bank of Cambodia’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), law enforcement officials ...
New Mortgage Program Helps Cambodia's Poor Find Better Homes
If you’ve applied for a mortgage recently, you know how hard it can be. The bank demands all kinds of obscure documents and wants proof of almost every asset you own. But an innovative mortgage program halfway around the world will evaluate your application without ...
http://www.wbur.org/npr/176121367/new-mortgage-program-helps-cambodias-poor-find-better-homes
Acleda Plans to Launch Internet Banking Services
Acleda Bank PLC plans to launch internet banking services in September, the bank’s president and CEO, In Channy, said yesterday. Internet banking will be available to customers in Cambodia and abroad, Mr. Channy said. The system Acleda chose, he said, is used by many leading ...
When Is Credit Growth Too Fast and How To Deal With It?
Cambodia’s financial system appears to be shifting to excessive credit growth. The credit-to-GDP ratio has reached 37 percent, well above the low-income economies (LTCs). If credit growth were to continue at the current pace, by mid-2013 the ratio would exceed even the median for more ...
Striving to make finance accessible
Access to finance could reduce violence, empower the most vulnerable in society and improve the livelihoods of Cambodia’s poorest people, a conference on community-led funding heard on Wednesday. Sarah Sitts, country manager of the international NGO Pact, introduced the funding model of savings-led micro-finance (SLMF). In ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032964776/Business/striving-to-make-finance-accessible.html