Banking and financial services

Hattha Kaksekar Limited, one of the country’s largest microfinance institutions (MFIs), is in talks to become a commercial bank by 2014, an official at the micro-lender said yesterday. The move, if successful, will be in line with the Central Bank’s policy to support MFIs in diversifying ...

Two financing agreements, implemented by the French Development Agency, were signed on 12 July 2012 at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Finance, H.E.M. Keat Chhon, to support two key sectors for economic and rural development of Cambodia. A financing agreement of 800,000 Euros (1 ...

China is the largest provider of financial assistance to Cambodia for agriculture and irrigation development in the last three years, Cambodia’s Minister of Finance Keat Chhon said on Tuesday. Since 2010 to date, he said, Cambodia has received a total loan of $561 million and a ...

Acleda Bank has filed an application to start banking operations in Burma with the central bank and is on track to open its first microfinance branch in the country by January, Acleda President In Channy said yesterday. Mr. Channy said the bank submitted its application for ...

One of Malaysia’s biggest investment banks, RHB Capital, announced it will acquire OSK Indochina Bank, via the transfer of 100 per cent of OSK Investment Bank shares from parent OSK Holdings, giving OSK Holdings a 10 per cent stake in the larger Malaysian RHB Capital ...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Cambodia where she met with Prime Minister Hun Sen to discuss U.S. investment and Cambodia’s outstanding debt. Cambodia wants the United States to forgive more than $400 million in debt accrued by the US-backed military government of Lon ...

Price levels picked up during the first half of 2012 but will likely cool down in the second half of the year due to changes in energy prices and major food related items. Therefore, the inflation rate has been upwardly adjusted by 30 basis points to 4.8 percent ...

Despite being downgraded by Moody’s just over two months ago, profits at Cambodian Public Bank (Campu) and Acleda Bank—two of the largest banks in the country—increased by about 50 percent during the first half of the year, according to figures provided by the banks yesterday. In ...

Phnom Penh Commercial Bank will offer “wedding loans” to newlyweds, a product based on a similar borrowing practice is South Korea. The majority-owned South Korean bank will set aside more than US$1 million for start-up families that don’t want their parents shelling out savings for new ...

Access to the region’s largest collective financial resource, the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, could be easier than expected for Cambodia, according to an Asian Development Bank economist. Initiated in May, the fund is expected to lend up to US$4 billion and leverage up to $13 billion for ...

Prasac, a leading micro-finance institution in Cambodia, had increased its registered capital from US$3.8 million to $20 million in preparation for its transformation into a commercial bank by 2014, the institution said yesterday. “The registration requirement of $37.5 million is a very small amount to ...

PRASAC Microfinance Institution, celebrating its eighteenth anniversary this year in the Cambodia microfinance market, has increased its registered capital from 15-4 billion riel to 80 billion riel. The increase of the share capital has been authorized by the National Bank of Cambodia and the company is now amending its Articles of Incorporation. PRASAC’s share capital is ...

Canadian insurance and financial services company Manulife Financial officially launched its Cambodian country office on June 28, one of several new players seeking to enter one of Southeast Asia’s still-untapped markets. Britain’s No.1 insurer Prudential said last week it had approval from the Cambodian government to open a wholly foreign-owned life insurance operation. Manulife, the world’s ...

Cambodians can now invest in gold through one of the Kingdom’s Malaysian-owned banks, CIMB. The investment product has been met with mixed reviews from experts, but could tap a popular and traditional means of investment. CIMB’s Gold Deposit Account would give customers a gold-backed investment option without ...

Two global life insurers are opening offices in Cambodia, one of Southeast Asia’s few untapped insurance markets, as they strengthen their foothold in a region that could eventually be a key driver of revenue growth. Britain’s No. 1 insurer Prudential said on Monday it won in-principle ...

Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority saw 8.2 per cent revenue growth during the first quarter of the year, a welcomed disclosure after the retirement of the state-owned firm’s general director was announced last week. The firm took in US$7,725,500 between January and March, up from $7,140,473 ...

Manulife Financial Corp, Canada’s largest life insurer, has set up shop in Cambodia, hoping to tap into an emerging middle class in the southeast Asian country. The move is part of the Toronto-based company’s strategy of targeting profit growth in Asia as part of its plan ...

Property prices in both in Phnom Penh and the surrounding suburbs have increased around 10 percent in the first half of 2012 as more foreign investors buy up new condominiums and banks provide more housing loans, say real estate experts. After years of flat prices due to weak demand in the wake of ...

Sitting in front of her small house in the Chey Thorn commune of Kandal province, 35-year-old Sokhun’s face is etched with worry. She would like to plant crops on her four hectares of land, but she only has enough money to cultivate two of them. She could go to a microfinance finance institution ...

A new, government-owned life insurance company aims to provide a safety net for Cambodian families, according to In Meatra, director-general of the Cambodia Life Insurance Company Plc. Located on the 21st floor of Canadia Tower, Cambodia Life opened on May 21 and has 23 employees.  “Cambodia ...

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met with Senator Jim Webb, of Virginia, this week, to discuss how Cambodia might be forgiven war-era debt to the US or find a better way to pay it off. Cambodia owes nearly $450 million on pre-Khmer Rouge borrowing. ...

CIMB Bank plc, which aims to be among the top 10 banks in Cambodia over the next five years, is targeting more than US$100mil (RM317mil ) in deposits and US$90mil (RM285mil) in total loan size by year-end. Its deputy general manager and head of commercial banking ...

Cathay United Bank, the banking arm of Cathay Financial Holding Co., has agreed to acquire a 70 percent stake in a Cambodia bank, the financial holding company said Thursday. With the acquisition, Cathay United Bank will become the largest shareholder in Singapore Banking Corp. Ltd. (SBC Bank), while the original Singaporean investors will retain the remaining ...

Cambodia so far has not feared for creating ASEAN economic community 2015 and deeper ASEAN and East Asia regional integration as the region will have free flow of goods, worker mobilization, finance and investment,” trade minister Cham Prasidh said on June 12. His announcement was made during the workshop of ASEAN economic community 2015. “We ...