Economy and commerce
Banking and financial services
Top Papua New Guinea bank to enter local asset market
Bank South Pacific (BSP), Papua New Guinea’s largest bank, signed a joint venture deal with RMA Cambodia to enter the Cambodian asset finance market, according to a media report yesterday. ...
The Phnom Penh Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/top-papua-new-guinea-bank-enter-local-asset-market
Pi Pay goes cashless with app
Cash may be king in Cambodia, but Pi Pay Asia is banking on rising smartphone penetration and an arsenal of digital payment solutions to help dethrone it.The company’s soon-to-be-released mobile-phone application provides a one-stop platform for cashless transactions, digital money transfers and e-wallet solutions, while ...
Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/pi-pay-goes-cashless-app
Acleda’s new ATM cards
Acleda Bank spent about $1 million to produce 800,000 new ATM cards with EMV chips to enable them to be used globally and also to mitigate the risk of fraud, said the bank’s president and group managing director on Friday. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/38780/acleda---s-new-atm-cards/
Custodian could spur fund interest
The government is working on legislation that would create a framework for the establishment of a custodian bank in Cambodia, according to securities firms, which claim the absence of this institution could be deterring foreign investors from participating in share offerings on the local stock ...
Brian Ng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/custodian-could-spur-fund-interest
Japan firms link up to offer leasing
Rent Japan Group Inc, a publicly listed Japanese company that specializes in the recycling and reuse of consumer products, will establish a joint venture with a Japanese financial services firm to launch a new leasing company in Cambodia, it said in a filing yesterday to ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/japan-firms-link-offer-leasing
MFI slowdown: real or illusory?
After several years of rapid growth, the expansion of credit provided by the Kingdom’s myriad microfinance institutions (MFIs) stalled abruptly last year, raising concerns poorer Cambodians could be pushed toward loan sharks to obtain credit or cover their debts, the World Bank said in its ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfi-slowdown-real-or-illusory
Victims of Ponzi scheme petition courts, government for assistance
About 300 victims of an alleged Ponzi scheme filed complaints with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, the Justice Ministry and the National Assembly on Monday asking for the government’s help in recouping their losses. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/victims-of-ponzi-scheme-petition-courts-government-for-assistance-129262/
Correspondent banking in retreat, but growing in Asia
While financial inclusion is a top priority for emerging economies, new research suggests more stringent enforcement of anti-money regulations in recent years has resulted in major Western banks disconnecting from these regions, leaving local businesses without access to the international financial system. ...
Cam McGrath
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/correspondent-banking-retreat-growing-asia
MFI loans used for illegal logging
A conservation NGO official yesterday said he planned to ask microfinance lenders to better scrutinise their loans after a spate of cases over the last month showed that such loans had been used by illegal loggers to purchase chainsaws and tractors for transporting timber. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mfi-loans-used-illegal-logging
Acleda launches smart phone app
Acleda Bank on Tuesday launched a smart phone app in an effort to reach low-income earners who do not use banks. Unity ToanChet, a Fin-Tech application, lets customers carry out transactions anywhere and at any time. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/37801/acleda-launches-smart-phone-app/
MFIs seek ministry support
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) is planning to form a joint committee chaired by government officials and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to promote small loan disbursements as the new 18 percent loan interest rate cap takes effect, according to an announcement released by the ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfis-seek-ministry-support
HKL gets $15 million to grow MFI operations
Cambodian microlender Hattha Kaksekar Ltd (HKL) has secured a $15 million cash injection to expand its business operations from its parent company, Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya, Hout Ieng Tong, president and CEO of HKL, confirmed yesterday. ...
The Phnom Penh Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/hkl-gets-15-million-grow-mfi-operations
Cambodia taps Japanese blockchain tech for payment system
The National Bank of Cambodia will develop a blockchain-based payment system with help from a Japanese financial technology startup to offer people a secure, low-cost way of sending and receiving money. ...
Banking shows steady growth
Cambodia’s financial sector saw healthy growth last year with increased deposits and profits amid slower credit growth, reflecting sustainable development and increased public confidence in the sector, according to a recently released central bank report. ...
Hor Kimsay and Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/banking-shows-steady-growth
Smart-AIA partnership
Smart Axiata Co., Ltd. and AIA (Cambodia) Life Insurance Plc. have jointly announced a long-term partnership in bringing differentiated life insurance products and services to people in Cambodia to meet their growing financial protection and long-term saving needs. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/37545/smart-aia-partnership/
MFIs predict lower earnings
With the interest rate cap of 18 percent in full force for all new and restructured microfinance loans after the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) issued a populist measure to curb high interest rates, microfinance institutions (MFIs) are starting to give predictions for lower profits ...
Hor Kimsay and Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfis-predict-lower-earnings
Sathapana Bank secures $50M to scale up
Sathapana Bank Plc has received a hefty $50 million bilateral loan from the Bangkok branch of Mizuho Bank, a subsidiary of one of Japan’s largest financial institutions, in a move that banking insiders say will help the newly consolidated bank expand its lending portfolio as ...
Kali Kotoski and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/sathapana-bank-secures-50m-scale
Interest cap poses body blow for Cambodian microfinance
Just months ahead of local elections, the Cambodian government has ordered the microfinance industry to cap interest rates on new and refinanced loans at 18 percent a year starting April 1. ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voacambodia.com/a/interest-cap-poses-body-blow-for-cambodian-microfinance/3783292.html
MFIs seek regulator’s support
The apex body for the nation’s microfinance industry announced yesterday that the central bank had tentatively agreed to a number of measures it had requested to ease the burden on microfinance lenders following last week’s unilateral decision to cap annual interest rates at 18 percent ...
Kali Kotoski and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfis-seek-regulators-support
Pensions to be paid through ATMs
The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation will start dispensing pensions for former civil servants and veterans at select ATMs starting in April. Minister Vong Soth issued a notice yesterday stating that pensioners will be able to withdraw their monthly allocations from Canadia Bank ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36843/pensions-to-be-paid-through-atms/
Traders urged to use riel
In an effort to boost the use of the riel, private companies have called on the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) to ensure that all goods worth less than $100 are priced in riel. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36683/traders-urged-to-use-riel/
Credit Bureau Cambodia expands database, makes switch to riel
The credit histories of about 400,000 borrowers were added to its database last year, raising the number to slightly more than 4 million in credit bureau database, Credit Bureau Cambodia Interim CEO Mr. Oeur Sothearoath says at the bureau’s newly opened office in Vattanac Capital. ...
Khmer Times
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36598/credit-bureau-cambodia-expands--database--makes-switch-to-riel/
Maybank sees mobile banking as key to promoting the riel
There is a simple reason why Maybank has been named the most innovative bank in Malaysia, explains the CEO of its Cambodian subsidiary. “We have observed that innovation has no borders,” says Ms. Cynthia Liaw in her office at the bank’s headquarters on Norodom Blvd. ...
Khmer Times
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36596/maybank-sees-mobile-banking--as-key-to-promoting-the-riel/
Microlender in monster deal
Hong Kong financial giant The Bank of East Asia and Sri Lanka’s LOLC announced on Friday that they have jointly acquired a majority stake in Prasac Microfinance, Cambodia’s largest microfinance institution (MFI) by assets, in what could be the largest acquisition of a Cambodian lender ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/microlender-monster-deal