Micro-finance

The country’s financial institutions are closely monitoring loans that have been made to rice farmers, who say that this year’s fall in rice prices will affect their ability to make repayments, industry officials said yesterday. Last year, farmers were paid around 840 riel ($0.21) per kilogram ...

A banking sector initiative launched yesterday aims to advise Cambodia’s financial sector on best practices for sustainable lending while capitalising on the growing pool of international funds that could flow into green and socially responsible projects. The Sustainable Finance Initiative will conduct two years of ...

Eight months since announcing the biggest acquisition deal in the history of Cambodia’s financial sector, Thailand-based Bank of Ayudhya, also known as Krungsri Bank, has yet to receive approval for the landmark deal. In a statement released in January, Bank of Ayudhya announced its intention ...

More than a year into a government-backed campaign to clamp down on unlicensed lenders, nearly 130 small lenders operating under the radar have come into the fold, officials said yesterday. ...

Cambodia’s microfinance sector continued to expand rapidly during the first half of the year, despite concerns over rising default rates as the industry’s main borrowers – provincial farmers – struggle to repay their loans after successive seasons of drought and poor harvests. ...

South Korean financial giant Woori Bank, widely seen as the preferred bidder for a 50 per cent stake in Cambodian microlender Prasac, is out of the running as it was not presented to the central bank as an official bidder, local banking officials have said. ...

One of the Kingdom’s largest microfinance institutions (MFI), Prasac MFI, increased its paid up share capital by $29 million in a bid to increase public confidence and comply with the National Bank of Cambodia’s (NBC) requirements. ...

Cambodia’s economy continues to perform strongly, but rapid credit growth must be contained to reduce the risk of economic and financial instability, and to ensure a “soft landing” of the credit cycle, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement issued yesterday at the ...

More Cambodians than ever are turning to microfinance for money to cover their small business endeavours or pay expenses, and, increasingly, they are looking to protect their families from the burden of these debts in the event of death or disability. ...

The rapid growth in the number of Cambodians using mobile money services to transfer remittances is a positive step towards greater financial inclusion, and is serving as a gateway to financial services for the largely unbanked rural population, experts said yesterday. ...

Clients of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the Kingdom can now expect some form of protection from over-indebtedness that arises from their inability to meet their financial obligations on time as agreed in a credit agreement. ...

Banking industry insiders expressed concern yesterday over a spike in the amount of delinquent debts reported by microfinance institutions (MFIs) across the Kingdom, which they attributed to farmers struggling to repay their loans after adverse weather conditions affected their crops. ...

A Japanese businessman has acquired a majority stake of microfinance company Farmer Union Development Fund (FUDF) and plans to expand its lending to the real estate sector as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises, he revealed yesterday. ...

The Ministry of Commerce has tapped Wing (Cambodia) Ltd Specialised Bank to be the fourth financial institution designated to handle payments for companies incorporated using the ministry’s online registration system. ...

A South Korean phone-based money transfer company has partnered with Wing Specialized Bank to tap into remittance services for Cambodians living and working abroad. ...

Wing Specialised Bank is trying to stay ahead of the game in the money transfer and mobile payment sector by forging new partnerships. The Post’s Ayanna Runcie sat down with Wing’s recently appointed CEO Jojo Malolos to discuss his plan for the company’s future. ...

A government official lambasted the slow application rate for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that operate as microfinance lenders, urging them to register with the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). ...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) yesterday in a move that officials are predicting will usher in a new era of responsible corporate governing practices, transparency, financial risk management and public confidence in the ...

Two weeks since the central bank launched its FAST system, which provides instant riel-denominated fund transfers between banking institutions, operations are running smoothly, with usage of the new electronic payment system expected to pick up as it integrates more customers.   ...

Loans and deposits in the Kingdom’s crowded microfinance sector rose about 10 percent during the first quarter of the year from the same period last year, according to a report from the Cambodia Microfinance Association, which put the rise down to an expanding economy. ...

Mobile payment provider True Money Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding with local microfinance institution Niron Mikroheranhvatho Plc on Friday to facilitate bill payments for the microlender’s 60,000 customers. ...

“The Microfinance Sector in Cambodia: Opportunities and Risks” is an attempt to get a wider view and deeper insight from various researchers on fostering a robust, stable and sustainable microfinance sector, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said in a statement yesterday.   ...

Sustainability Finance Real Economies SICAV – SIF (SFRE, pronounced Sapphire) has made an investment totalling USD 4 million in PRASAC (Cambodia) a microfinance institution, in line with its strategy of advancing social, environmental and economic development by providing capital to banks. ...

Amret Microfinance Institution, one of the largest in Cambodia’s crowded market, yesterday announced it had received an A- rating from independent rating agency Microfinanza, which is based in Italy, for improving its operation and for its strong performance over the past year. ...