Banking and financial services

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 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.   ...

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. ...

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.   ...

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 ...

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 ...

 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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

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. ...

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.​ ...

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 ...

Made by Cambodians for Cambodians, Wing (Cambodia) Limited Specialized Bank, the leading mobile banking services provider in Cambodia, is proud to join the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) in promoting Khmer Riel usage among its customers across the country by establishing service charges, as well ...

Nearly everyone living in Pann Sopheatra’s village, just across the Mekong River from Phnom Penh, has either taken out a microfinance loan or knows someone who has.   ...

These coins was found at excavation sites and archaeologists believe many more have yet to be uncovered, pointing to depictions of coins on objects from the Nokor Phnom era (also known as the Funan era), which dates back to the 1st century and is recognized ...

When Cambodia began accumulating foreign reserves in 1997 – after it switched from a centrally planned market to an open economy – the central bank deposited the $276 million it had saved at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and allowed it to manage ...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched a corporate governance initiative yesterday aimed at enhancing the efficiency of Cambodia’s private sector to strengthen the business climate and spur foreign investment and job creation, it said in a release. ...

More Cambodians took out home loans last year than the year before, prompting banks like ANZ Royal to provide specialized services for the growing sector.   ...

A legal framework that ensures a “sound, strong and efficient” financial sector has ensured the swift expansion of banking services throughout the country, but borrowing rates remain high and a large segment of the population – primarily those in rural areas – face difficulties accessing ...

The ruling CPP doubled down on Tuesday on its decision to cap interest rates on microfinance loans as a way to help the poor get out of debt, even as analysts called it a political move that would have long-term negative effects on the rural ...

The National Bank of Cambodia announced on Monday that it would set an annual interest rate ceiling of 18 percent for all microfinance institutions (MFIs), sparking concerns that lenders would stop offering smaller loans that often keep the most financially vulnerable afloat. ...

Sathapana Bank has pre-emptively removed its signature golden lion logo from all 162 branches nationwide as the private bank aims to deflect government criticism and avoid confusion as being identified as a state-owned institution, a bank executive said yesterday. ...

South Korea’s state-run deposit insurer opened its first overseas branch in Phnom Penh yesterday in a move to sell off the bank and property assets of Korean banks that went belly up in 2011. ...