Banking and financial services
Banking and financial services policy and regulation
PM urges tighter rules on micro loans
Prime Minister Hun Sen told a summit on micro-finance development yesterday that stricter rules needed to be applied to organizations and institutions lending money as many people were being cheated, embezzled and losing their collateral to unscrupulous lenders. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22751/pm-urges-tighter-rules-on-micro-loans/
National Bank to launch financial literacy campaign
A campaign will be launched country-wide to educate the public about how to properly use financial services, a forum on microfinance in Phnom Penh was told yesterday. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22735/national-bank-to-launch-financial-literacy-campaign/
IFC provides $50m to Amret micro-lender
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide a $50 million financing package to Amret Co to help the Cambodian microfinance institution increase lending to smaller businesses, particularly those in the agriculture sector and rural areas, it said in a press release. ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ifc-provides-50m-amret-micro-lender
Banking on human resources
Acleda Bank, Cambodia’s largest bank, is morphing its existing training centre into a full-fledged educational institution, after obtaining a licence last month. The new institute will look to provide bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration, with majors in finance and banking. The Post’s Sorn ...
Sorn Sarath
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/banking-human-resources
Microfinance growth slows in final quarter
Growth in the country’s expanding microfinance sector slowed slightly in the last quarter of 2015, but both loans and deposits finished the year about 45 percent higher than at the end of 2014, according to figures from the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA). ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/microfinance-growth-slows-in-final-quarter-107138/
With AIIB, nation diversifies funding options
Though it’s extremely early days, experts this week welcomed Cambodia’s membership to the nascent China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), saying it would provide much-needed diversity of funding for the nation’s infrastructure and connectivity needs. ...
Tej Parikh
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/with-aiib-nation-diversifies-funding-options-105893/
Silver coins for ASEAN
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), or Central Bank, has issued ASEAN Commemorative Coins to mark the establishment of the ASEAN Community on December 31, according to its statement on Friday. ...
Xinhua team
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18905/silver-coins-for-asean/
Kingdom unfazed by Fed rate hike
A day after the US Federal Reserve increased interest rates, which can potentially impact incoming investments and make debt more costly, experts say the Kingdom’s strong underlying growth will help maintain investments flows and leave the country largely unaffected.The Fed’s 25 basis point rate hike ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/kingdom-unfazed-fed-rate-hike
Give farmers a break: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called on banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to suspend loan repayments by borrowers affected by this year’s drought, or either make the loans interest free or cut the rates. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18453/give-farmers-a-break--pm/
‘Policymakers still stuck in comfort zone’
As the global economy faces a challenging growth environment, developed and least developed countries are increasingly competing for export markets to spur growth, with many – like Cambodia – aiming to diversify markets as well as products. Cambodia has relied primarily on exports of ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18178/---policymakers-still-stuck-in-comfort-zone---/
Credit growth poses economic risk, IMF warns
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 ...
Cam McGrath
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/credit-growth-poses-economic-risk-imf-warns
JCBI expands reach in deal with campu bank
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. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17496/jcbi-expands-reach-in-deal-with-campu-bank/
Major surge in micro lending, association says
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 ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17497/major-surge-in-micro-lending--association-says/
Central bank moves to spark Interbank lending
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. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17371/central-bank-moves-to-spark-interbank-lending/
Burden of debt eats into incomes
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 ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/burden-debt-eats-incomes
Central bank takes breather as it reins in rural lenders
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) ...
Sor Chandara and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/central-bank-takes-breather-it-reins-rural-lenders
Central bank urges Riel spending
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 ...
Sor Chandara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/central-bank-urges-riel-spending
Islamic Microfinance could save farmers from high interest rates
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. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15591/islamic-microfinance-could-save-farmers-from-high-interest-rates/
50th microfinance institution launched in Cambodia
The Royal Microfinance institution launched its operations in Cambodia on Thursday, bringing the total number of micro-lenders in the kingdom to 50. ...
Xinhua team
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15004/50th-microfinance-institution-launched-in-cambodia/
Commercial bank lending, deposits rising
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. ...
Un Raksmey and Igor Kossov
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14087/commercial-bank-lending--deposits-rising/
Credit bureau brings rural lenders into the fold
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. ...
Kang Sothear and Tsz-kwan Ho
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/credit-bureau-brings-rural-lenders-into-the-fold-90227/
Microfinance loans up 47 percent in first 6 months
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. ...
Kang Sothear and Tsz-kwan Ho
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/microfinance-loans-up-47-percent-in-first-6-months-90039/
Gov’t to finish Northern rail line in 2016
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. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-to-finish-northern-rail-line-in-2016-89463/
Stalled interbank market clogging up liquidity
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. ...
Cam McGrath
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/12776/stalled-interbank-market-clogging-up-liquidity/