Banking and financial services

Cambodia was in discussions with the Chinese government on funding for a 250-kilometre stretch of rail line between Phnom Penh and Vietnam, in what Cambodian officials yesterday called a move away from a “complicated” Asian Development Bank loan. Va Sim Sorya, director general at the Ministry ...

Loans and deposits at Cambodia’s 31 commercial banks grew 35 per cent and 25 per cent respectively during the first quarter of the year on what insiders called increased soundness in the Kingdom’s financial sector. Outstanding loans at the end of March hit US$4.6 billion, according ...

Loans and deposits at Cambodia’s 31 commercial banks grew 35 percent and 25 percent respectively in the first quarter of the year, according to the National Bank of Cambodia ...

Often vilified for paying low wages in less than optimum work environments, Cambodia’s garment factory owners got into the swing of the commune elections this week, with many companies providing loans to help their workers travel home to vote. With about 400,000 employees, the garment industry’s ...

Cambodian microfinance institution PRASAC says it is bolstering its green credentials by increasing loans for eco-friendly farming methods in the kingdom. President and CEO of PRASAC, said the institution is “committed to providing and developing more green financing to the rural people for their livelihood ...

On his first day of questioning at the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday, Sar Kim Lomouth, the deputy director of the State Bank of Democratic Kampuchea, described how the national financial institution was nothing but a charade during the Pol Pot regime. Currency had been abolished and financial transactions eliminated under ...

Children of imprisoned Boeung Kak lake women pleaded for their mothers’ release outside the Ministry of Justice yesterday. The demonstration, which included more than 200 Boeung Kak residents and activist monk Loun Savath, was held on the eve of International Children’s Day. It also coincided with more ...

The Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), an agency set up by Asean+3 and the Asian Development Bank to help develop local-currency bond and cross-border bond markets in the region, has started to operate, says chief executive Kiyoshi Nishimura. He said the CGIF will fill in ...

Canadia Bank will launch a rice mill in Cambodia’s Takeo province in October, a move that insiders said could help curb the flow of unmilled rice to neighbouring Vietnam. Bank officials yesterday said they will buy US$3 million in milling equipment, and the total cost of ...

Cambodian people used banks less than any other country in the Asia-Pacific region last year in percentage terms of using financial services, recent data from the World Bank showed. The report, released this month, also pointed to high growth in the percentage of borrowers, which insiders ...

The Advanced Bank of Asia (ABA) last week loaned PRASAC Microfinance Institution US$2 million to support the rapid growth of the microfinance loan industry. The domestic loan was chosen to “diversify our funding sources” because of a large reliance on overseas capital which moves many of the jobs created ...

Acleda Bank has raised its bank capital—the amount of money it has available for expenditure—by 28 percent to $113.16 million, the bank announced in a statement on Friday. In Channy, CEO of Acleda, said yesterday the extra capital would be used to increase its loan portfolio ...

Cambodia on May 21 officially started to trade life insurance for first time in history with hope of supplementing social security and growth of insurance development in the kingdom. At the inauguration ceremony at 21st floor of Canadia Tower in Phnom Penh, His Excellency, Aun Porn Moniroth, secretary of state of finance ministry said: “it ...

Loan disbursals in Cambodia’s banking sector increased by 33 percent to more than $4 billion last year, as credit to the housing market and agricultural sector saw the largest amount of growth, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said in its annual report, released yesterday. While ...

The Kingdom’s first life insurance company, Cambodian Life, launched yesterday, courting a market almost entirely unfamiliar with the service. Industry insiders said demand for the products would need time to grow. The establishment of Cambodian Life in the Kingdom would develop confidence in the market and ...

Considering the growth potential of US$400-million worth in bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Cambodia for the past five years, the British Trade and Investment office plans to establish its permanent branch in Phnom Penh. British companies are eyeing investment opportunities in education, construction and ...

Total loans and deposits at the Kingdom’s microfinance institutions jumped in the first quarter of 2012 despite what is typically a slow season for the industry, insiders said yesterday. Loans outstanding reached US$708 million for the period ending on March 31, climbing 9.8 per cent from ...

The ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, the largest pooling of financial resources among Southeast Asia’s 10-member bloc, held its first board meeting in Manila last week, but the extent to which Cambodia will borrow from the non-concessional fund has yet to be determined, experts said. ASEAN countries and ...

The Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia (FTB) and Tong Yang Securities (Cambodia) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding on financial consultation services and trade co-operation that is hoped to expand banking and securities business in the country. The MoU should bring the bank and the securities firm into ...

ANZ Royal Bank chief executive Damian Bell has resigned from the post he held for not much more than a month, a company spokeswoman confirmed yesterday. He resigned “several weeks ago”, Libby Armstrong, a Hong Kong-based ANZ spokeswoman, said by phone. No explanation was offered for ...

In Sihanoukville, just north of Cambodia’s only deep-water port, stands the headquarters of Chenla Seafood. A uniformed guard stands watch at the gate, which opens on to manicured grounds and a two-building facility that houses what will likely become the country’s premier seafood processor. A few ...

While shopping for a brand-new television, 27-year-old Loek Bunhai recently bought a Sony flat-screen at the Sunsimexco retail outlet on Phnom Penh’s Monivong Boulevard for $345. But with a monthly salary of $300 from his job as a microfinance officer in Phnom Penh, Mr. Bunhai was ...

Maybank will bet on what it said was Cambodia’s low bank-penetration rate for future growth as it transitions from a branch of its Malaysian parent into a locally incorporated subsidiary. With 34 licenced banks operating in a market with US$4.07 billion in loans in 2011, analysts ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance yesterday signed a US$60.3 million loan package with Asian Development Bank to aid in reconstruction efforts after the Kingdom last year suffered its worst floods in a decade. ...