Banking and financial services

After several years of rapid growth, the expansion of credit provided by the Kingdom’s myriad microfinance institutions (MFIs) stalled abruptly last year, raising concerns poorer Cambodians could be pushed toward loan sharks to obtain credit or cover their debts, the World Bank said in its ...

About 300 victims of an alleged Ponzi scheme filed complaints with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, the Justice Ministry and the National Assembly on Monday asking for the government’s help in recouping their losses. ...

While financial inclusion is a top priority for emerging economies, new research suggests more stringent enforcement of anti-money regulations in recent years has resulted in major Western banks disconnecting from these regions, leaving local businesses without access to the international financial system. ...

A conservation NGO official yesterday said he planned to ask microfinance lenders to better scrutinise their loans after a spate of cases over the last month showed that such loans had been used by illegal loggers to purchase chainsaws and tractors for transporting timber. ...

Acleda Bank on Tuesday launched a smart phone app in an effort to reach low-income earners who do not use banks.​ Unity ToanChet, a Fin-Tech application, lets customers carry out transactions anywhere and at any time. ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) is planning to form a joint committee chaired by government officials and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to promote small loan disbursements as the new 18 percent loan interest rate cap takes effect, according to an announcement released by the ...

Cambodian microlender Hattha Kaksekar Ltd (HKL) has secured a $15 million cash injection to expand its business operations from its parent company, Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya, Hout Ieng Tong, president and CEO of HKL, confirmed yesterday.  ...

The National Bank of Cambodia will develop a blockchain-based payment system with help from a Japanese financial technology startup to offer people a secure, low-cost way of sending and receiving money.   ...

Cambodia’s financial sector saw healthy growth last year with increased deposits and profits amid slower credit growth, reflecting sustainable development and increased public confidence in the sector, according to a recently released central bank report. ...

Smart Axiata Co., Ltd. and AIA (Cambodia) Life Insurance Plc. have jointly announced a long-term partnership in bringing differentiated life insurance products and services to people in Cambodia to meet their growing financial protection and long-term saving needs.   ...

With the interest rate cap of 18 percent in full force for all new and restructured microfinance loans after the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) issued a populist measure to curb high interest rates, microfinance institutions (MFIs) are starting to give predictions for lower profits ...

Sathapana Bank Plc has received a hefty $50 million bilateral loan from the Bangkok branch of Mizuho Bank, a subsidiary of one of Japan’s largest financial institutions, in a move that banking insiders say will help the newly consolidated bank expand its lending portfolio as ...

 Just months ahead of local elections, the Cambodian government has ordered the microfinance industry to cap interest rates on new and refinanced loans at 18 percent a year starting April 1. ...

The apex body for the nation’s microfinance industry announced yesterday that the central bank had tentatively agreed to a number of measures it had requested to ease the burden on microfinance lenders following last week’s unilateral decision to cap annual interest rates at 18 percent ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation will start dispensing pensions for former civil servants and veterans at select ATMs starting in April. Minister Vong Soth issued a notice yesterday stating that pensioners will be able to withdraw their monthly allocations from Canadia Bank ...

In an effort to boost the use of the riel, private companies have called on the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) to ensure that all goods worth less than $100 are priced in riel. ...

The credit histories of about 400,000 borrowers were added to its database last year, raising the number to slightly more than 4 million in credit bureau database, Credit Bureau Cambodia Interim CEO Mr. Oeur Sothearoath says at the bureau’s newly opened office in Vattanac Capital. ...

There is a simple reason why Maybank has been named the most innovative bank in Malaysia, explains the CEO of its Cambodian subsidiary. “We have observed that innovation has no borders,” says Ms. Cynthia Liaw in her office at the bank’s headquarters on Norodom Blvd.​ ...

Hong Kong financial giant The Bank of East Asia and Sri Lanka’s LOLC announced on Friday that they have jointly acquired a majority stake in Prasac Microfinance, Cambodia’s largest microfinance institution (MFI) by assets, in what could be the largest acquisition of a Cambodian lender ...

Made by Cambodians for Cambodians, Wing (Cambodia) Limited Specialized Bank, the leading mobile banking services provider in Cambodia, is proud to join the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) in promoting Khmer Riel usage among its customers across the country by establishing service charges, as well ...

Nearly everyone living in Pann Sopheatra’s village, just across the Mekong River from Phnom Penh, has either taken out a microfinance loan or knows someone who has.   ...

These coins was found at excavation sites and archaeologists believe many more have yet to be uncovered, pointing to depictions of coins on objects from the Nokor Phnom era (also known as the Funan era), which dates back to the 1st century and is recognized ...

When Cambodia began accumulating foreign reserves in 1997 – after it switched from a centrally planned market to an open economy – the central bank deposited the $276 million it had saved at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and allowed it to manage ...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched a corporate governance initiative yesterday aimed at enhancing the efficiency of Cambodia’s private sector to strengthen the business climate and spur foreign investment and job creation, it said in a release. ...