Banking and financial services

Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLB) has received approval from Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce to open a wholly-owned, locally incorporated commercial bank in Cambodia. HLB said with a capital of US$37.5 million (RM116.2 million), Hong Leong Bank (Cambodia) Plc will commence operations in Cambodia within ...

CANADIA Bank and Japan-based Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday agreeing to work together to tap the flow of Japanese investors into the Kingdom. The MoU was signed by Canadia Bank chief executive officer Michael Lor and Masato Miyachi, the general manager ...

US-BASED Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) yesterday signed a deal to provide a $5 million long-term loan to Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Ltd (TPC), a local microfinance institution (MFI), to support TPC’s expansion of its home improvement loans for low-income Cambodians. Fernanda Lima, director of US-based socially ...

WHILE investments from the Middle East into Cambodia are expected to increase over the next few years, the central bank here currently has no plans to launch Islamic banking services. Recent events like Qatar Airway’s Doha-Phnom Penh flights, which launched earlier this month, have been expected ...

Qatar’s ambassador to Cambodia says his country wants to open a bank here in an effort to enhance, and attract more, trade and investment from Middle East countries to the Kingdom. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Arqaam Capital, a Dubai-based investment bank, had said it was ...

The first time Leang Horng, a resident of Kandal province’s Saang district, made use of a micro-finance institution, a loan was the only service he needed. At that time, Horng had no idea about deposits or money transfers. But things have changed in the past few ...

Lending by commercial banks in Cambodia grew by more than one-third last year, according to figures provided by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) yesterday. Banks lent out a total of $5.89 billion in 2012, compared with $4.39 billion in 2011, NBC figures show, meaning ...

An offshore financial services provider aiming to cater to expatriates in Cambodia hopes to tap into a market that has had its share of fly-by-night operators. Tag Wealth International, a subsidiary of the Australia-based Tag Group, began operations last month, offering advice in areas such as ...

Investment in Cambodia from overseas surged by at least 44 percent last year, according to an estimate from the central bank, despite figures suggesting a reduction in the overall flow of foreign currency into Southeast Asian economies. Nguon Sokha, director-general of the National Bank of Cambodia, ...

Malaysia-based Hong Leong Bank, a subsidiary of Hong Leong Financial Group Berhad, is planning to open a branch in Cambodia sometime this year, which would make it the fourth Malaysian bank and the 33rd commercial bank in Cambodia’s crowded banking industry. Ngoun Sokha, director general of the ...

Cambodia spent about $200 million on food and beverage imports to supply the domestic market last year – an increase of more than 10 per cent from the previous year, official data from the Ministry of Commerce show. Government officials and representatives of the private sector ...

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the provision of technical support for Cambodia’s banking and financial supervision, according to a press release after the signing ceremony. “The MoU will ...

Cambodia’s largest opposition party has expressed concern that China’s investment in the country is heavily skewed towards exploiting natural resources, wreaking havoc on the environment. China is Cambodia’s largest investor by a wide margin, having poured U.S. $9.7 billion into the country over the past 18 ...

Loans and deposits at Cambodia’s 32 micro-finance institutions and four NGOs, as well as small loans from Acleda Bank, rose sharply last year compared with a year earlier. Industry players say this is a result of the Kingdom’s rapid economic improvement and political stability. Official data from ...

Cambodia’s largest bank is ready to launch its first micro-finance institution (MFI) in Myanmar, but one final barrier remains: an operating licence from Myanmar’s government. Acleda Bank’s chief executive, In Channy, expects the licence to be granted by the end of this month. Once that is done, ...

The International Monetary Fund has warned that a credit boom in Cambodia poses a threat to economic growth. Banks have been cutting interest rates to win customers and private sector credit has increased by almost a third in the past 12 months, the fund said. This ...

The first Banking Careers Forum, organised on Friday by CamEd Business School with the support of leading banks and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), attracted hundreds of students –  the majority of them studying accounting and banking – to participate and find job opportunities in the ...

Vietnamese enterprises so far have invested in 124 projects in Cambodia with total registered capital of some US$2.5 billion, four times higher than the figure in 2009. As such, Vietnam is now among the top five investors in Cambodia, said the Association of Vietnamese Investors in ...

The year 2012 has seen a number of changes of personnel within different companies in Cambodia, particularly in the telecommunications sector, but also in the insurance and banking industry. According to In Channy, ACLEDA Bank’s CEO and vice chairman of the International Business Chamber Cambodia, the ...

Malaysian-owned Maybank, one of the largest banks in Cambodia, opened its 12th national branch in Phnom Penh on Friday. The bank aims to reach emerging businesses in the city’s Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) with the new office. ...

OSK Investment Bank Berhad (OSKIB), the parent company of OSK Indochina Bank Limited (OSKIBL), has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Malaysia-based financial services group RHB Capital Berhad (RHB Capital), effective from November 9. ...

Despite an expanding financial sector, increasing access to credit and strong economic growth in recent years, fewer than 1 in 20 Cambodians has a bank account, according to a new policy working paper by the World Bank. According to the paper – released earlier this month ...

Hattha Kasekar Limited (HKL), one of Cambodia’s largest microfinance institutions (MFI), plans to install 15 ATM machines to service its increasing number of depositors. It becomes the second MFI after Prasac in Cambodia to provide this service to its clients. ...

Cambodia’s banking sector has maintained strong and steady growth in terms of loans and deposits in 2012 thanks to better economic performance, a central bank’s senior official said Tuesday. “Our banking system remains robust this year despite economic crisis in Europe and economic slowdown in the ...