Banking and financial services policy and regulation

Rapid credit growth – increasingly financed by bank flows from abroad – poses significant risk to Cambodia’s economy and requires prudential policies to cool lending and reduce exposure, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned in a report released yesterday. It said while Cambodia’s short-term economic ...

Japan-based JCB International (JCBI), a global payment brand and a leading credit card issuer and acquirer, has reached an agreement with Cambodia Public (Campu) Bank to expand the reach of its JCB cards in Cambodia. ...

Lending by microfinance institutions (MFIs) rose about 50 percent at an annualized rate during the first nine months of the year, according to the Cambodia Microfinance Association, which said the surge was sparked by economic stability and an increase in demand from clients wanting to ...

The National Bank of Cambodia has decreased the minimum value of negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs) in a bid to promote interbank lending in the Kingdom’s crowded financial industry. ...

While Cambodian households saw their debt increase just 2 per cent last year, rural household borrowings to service existing loans nearly doubled, new government research shows.Both total and disposable incomes across the 3.3 million Cambodian households rose 16 per cent year-on-year in 2014, with total ...

Cambodia’s central bank will temporarily suspend its eight-month campaign to bring informal moneylenders into its fold as it lacks the resources to review the mountain of registration applications it has received and needs time to tweak the licensing requirements, a National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) ...

Cambodia’s central bank yesterday again raised the issue of the country’s highly dollarised economy, suggesting that government policies and action plans will be enforced over the long term to promote the use of the riel, giving the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) more monetary control.Speaking ...

As businesses and banks prepare for the 11th World Islamic Economic Forum in Malaysia on November 3, some Islamic microfinance businesses are considering bringing interest-free loans to Cambodia. ...

The Royal Microfinance institution launched its operations in Cambodia on Thursday, bringing the total number of micro-lenders in the kingdom to 50. ...

Cambodia’s commercial banks lent $11.9 billion to customers in the first half of this year, a 33 percent increase from the amount lent during the same time last year, according to a National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) report released Tuesday. ...

Five rural credit operators signed an agreement to join the Credit Bureau Cambodia on Thursday as the watchdog and the National Bank of Cambodia ramp up efforts to better monitor the country’s expansive, but largely informal, rural lending industry. ...

Cambodia’s microfinance sector is continuing to grow at a rapid pace, with loan disbursements in the first six months of this year increasing almost 50 percent on last year, according to an industry association. ...

The government has set aside some $33 million to finish rebuilding Cambodia’s northern rail line by late next year, according to the Transportation Ministry, reanimating a long-delayed and over-budget project that had been one of the Asian Development Bank’s priorities in the country. ...

At least $1 billion in surplus liquidity is sitting idle in Cambodia’s banking system and could be unlocked if the central bank implemented a more effective interbank lending mechanism, experts say. ...

Three Thai banks have joined IFC’s $65 million syndication loan to a Cambodian microfinance institution to boost the access to funding of micro, small, and medium rural and agricultural enterprises, most of which are owned by women.  ...

The National Bank of Cambodia ( NBC), or the Central Bank, and the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) signed a cooperation agreement on Wednesday, aiming at exchanging experience and expertise in the area of bank supervision, according to a news statement. ...

Cambodia’s immigration police arrested eight illegal Vietnamese migrants and deported 10 other Vietnamese nationals from the Kingdom on Wednesday. ...

An inter-governmental anti-money laundering group has stopped monitoring Cambodia after it said the Kingdom had made “significant progress” toward fighting financial crimes. ...

Cambodia’s central bank will use its upcoming Second Macroeconomic Conference to discuss how best to promote the use of the riel and hasten de-dollarisation in the economy, according to an official release yesterday. ...

Both deposits and loans in Cambodia’s banking sector increased about 30 per cent last year, a rise that industry insiders say is a productivity boost for the Kingdom’s economy. By the end of December, deposits at all Cambodian banks reached $10 billion, a 32 per cent ...

Cambodia’s banking sector has continued enjoying robust growth in both loans and deposits this year, Ouk Maly, vice-governor of the National Bank of Cambodia, said Wednesday. ...

The total amount of loans in Cambodia’s banking sector could rise to $30 billion by 2020, according to a report released today by Mekong Strategic Partners, a new investment and advisory fund. Amid such growth, banks will be challenged to drastically expand their operations and will ...

Last month, Cambodia’s nascent yet rapidly expanding banking sector saw the new arrival of Phillip Bank through the acquisition of Hwang DBS Commercial Bank by Singapore’s Philip Capital in a $40 million deal. The number of banks in the country has more than doubled since 2005, ...

Cambodia’s banking sector has reported a 9.3-percent increase in lending in the first six months of the year, according to the figures from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Sunday. The figures showed that the kingdom’s 35 commercial banks had lent a total of 8.09 ...