Banking and financial services

More than $600 million flooded out of Cambodia’s entire banking system during the third quarter of this year, as fears of post-election chaos set off panic and mass withdrawals, new figures from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) reveal. The figures, obtained yesterday, were the first ...

The opposition party has called on microfinance institutions to renegotiate payment terms with flood-affected loan holders. This year’s floods have affected 20 provinces and more than 1.7 million people, with 31,314 households evacuated, according to the Humanitarian Response Forum. The Cambodia National Rescue Party has asked that ...

Chief Cambodia Specialized Bank, a subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based brokerage firm, will begin operations in Cambodia next month, its management said on Monday. Sokun Chakriya, head of marketing and sales at Chief Cambodia, said the bank aims to increase access to finance in Cambodia’s agricultural ...

Civil servants living in Phnom Penh will have wages paid into Canadia Bank accounts starting this week, Moth Kiev, secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs, said on Friday. The children of retired and disabled civil servants who have died will receive payments directly from ...

SET-listed Group Lease Plc (GL) plans to acquire a microfinance company in Cambodia as part of its effort to boost overseas revenue to more than 50% by 2015. GL’s chief executive Mitsuji Konoshita said negotiations are nearly finalised and the acquisition will be made through ...

Cambodia’s 35 microfinance institutions had lent $1.18 billion to their customers by the end of September this year, a 33 percent rise from $890 million at the end of last year, a report of the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) said Friday. On the deposit side, the ...

Maybank Cambodia Plc, with 12 branches in the Indo-Chinese country, is optimistic over Cambodia’s medium-to-long-term prospects with its four additional branches opened today, bringing its total network there to 16 branches. With the opening of the branches, the bank expects them to boost its total deposits ...

National insurance broking firm MGA Insurance Brokers is opening a new office in the developing market of Cambodia. The Cambodian operation was being set up as a joint venture with two local brokers, Chantol Seng and Sophat Meas, who had extensive international experience. “Cambodia has a ...

Bangkok Bank has urged Thai businesses to have a more active role in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) in terms of trading activities and investment, in order to tap the growing middle-class market in those countries. Speaking at the bank’s “Trade Logistics in Greater Mekong Sub-region: ...

The four people charged with embezzling more than $2 million from Canadia Bank PLC were able to do so by creating fictitious bank accounts and using fraudulent credit cards to withdraw money from those accounts, the bank’s CEO said Monday, the first time Canadia has ...

With pant legs rolled up to his knees, Hoeuy Mon trudges through a brown and green patchwork of rice fields. His four hectares are in Tkov village, Prey Veng province, about 300 metres from his home. On most of the journey, walkways enclosing each square plot ...

A local company has begun working in cooperation with ABA bank to streamline payments for services such as electricity bills and mobile phone top-ups by allowing people to pay through its website, mobile applications and electronic kiosks. PayGo SEA (Cambodia) Co. Ltd., which operates under the ...

One of the four suspects who have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the theft of $2.3 million from Canadia Bank was the head of the bank’s credit section during the time that the embezzlement scheme was carried out, according to a senior adviser ...

The former manager of Canadia Bank’s credit section has admitted to stealing $2.3 million from the bank’s accounts, the suspect’s lawyer said Tuesday, in what is one of the largest embezzlement schemes ever undertaken in Cambodia’s nascent banking industry. The testimony from Yeth So­pheaktra, 30, to ...

A unit of Temasek Holdings Private Ltd has opened a new bank in Cambodia with local partners in the first investment by the Singapore state investor in the country, the Straits Times reported on Friday. The bank has 11 branches in seven provinces, with five ...

The Institute of Bankers Malaysia (IBBM) has launched the Chartered Banker qualification for the Cambodian banking industry to develop talents in the banking industry in that country. The launch of the Chartered Banker qualifications was officiated today by the National Bank of Cambodia Deputy General ...

Taiwan’s E. Sun Commercial Bank has purchased a 70 per cent stake in Cambodia’s Union Commercial Bank. The deal, planned for months but announced yesterday at a press conference at the Sofitel hotel in Phnom Penh, will bring technology upgrades and more loan capital to the ...

An investment company owned by the Singaporean government is a minority partner in a fully licensed commercial bank set to open later this month in cooperation with Canadia Bank PLC and the country’s postal service, a source familiar with the deal confirmed Tuesday. Fullerton Financial Holdings, ...

Singapore Banking Corporation Ltd. (SBC Bank), a leading commercial bank in Cambodia, signed a memorandum of understanding with JCB International Co., Ltd. (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB, for the issuance of JCB cards in Cambodia. A ceremony to commemorate the milestone moment was held ...

Japan-based Mizuho Bank (MHBK) has signed an agreement with two well-established banks in Cambodia that is designed to help Mizuho leverage a wider range of financial services when dealing with Japanese clients. The memorandum of understanding was inked on Friday in Phnom Penh between Mizuho’s president ...

ElectraCard Services (ECS), a leading provider of software and processing solutions for electronic payment systems, announced that Sathapana Limited (SPN), the leading MFI in Cambodia, has selected ECS to offer ATM and card services to their customers. Sathapana operates through 101 offices (74 branches and ...

Saving deposits at microfinance institutions (MFIs) this month decreased slightly from the average monthly amount because of a rise in withdrawals, industry officials said. Bun Mony, president of the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA), and the general manager at MFI Sathapana Limited, said many people have come ...

Cambodian microfinance institution (MFI) Sathapana Limited will receive $15 million in loans to provide additional support to small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), which make up the vast majority of the country’s businesses. The loan comes courtesy of German Investment and Development Company DEG, a subsidiary of ...

CIMB Bank announced over the weekend that it will enlarge mortgage loans provided to clients, going from 70 per cent last year to 80 per cent financing of the total purchase price of properties for 2013. Heng Thida, head of retail financial services for the Malaysia-based ...