News

One of the personalities closely associated with the development of the stock exchange in Cambodia, Morten Kvammen, a director at SBI Royal Securities, says the CSX needs more companies to list in order to be successful. Kvammen, a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance and ...

Islamic finance could help to boost trade between Cambodia and the Middle East, as well as attract investment from Muslim-majority countries, experts said on Saturday. Knowledge of Islamic finance and banking, which bars interest lending and discourages unfair trade advantages, is almost nonexistent among Cambodia’s Muslims, ...

Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow 6.5 per cent in 2012, up from 5.75 per cent last year, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual review, adding that government policies to boost the investment climate were paying off. However, in its assessment, which was released ...

Two more Vietnamese banks have announced they will apply for licences to operate in Cambodia, according to media reports. If accepted, Maritime Bank and Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Bank (SHB) would bring the number of Vietnamese banks in Cambodia to six, National Bank of Cambodia officials said yesterday. Experts ...

Pakistan and Cambodia yesterday discussed strengthening economic ties in areas such banking and transportation, a government official said. Ambassador of Pakistan Fazal-ur-Rahman Kazi and Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sok An considered an agreement on the protection of trade and investment, Ek Tha, spokesman for the Council ...

Cambodia and the Asian Development Bank have signed their latest loan agreement of US$15 million for the development of the Kingdom’s financial sector, according to ADB. The money would be used for a number of development programs, including the improvement of regulatory regimes, creation of an ...

Cambodia’s total foreign reserves jumped to US$3 billion in the first half of 2011, up from $2.7 billion at the end of last year, according to the National Bank of Cambodia. The reserves help to bolster the Kingdom’s financial standing, which in turn draws investor interest ...

Dragon Capital, a Vietnam-based private equity firm, has announced that it is planning to launch a fund in Cambodia next year, the second such fund to be announced by a Vietnamese company this year. The firm’s CEO, Dominic Scriven, said that the initial fund would close ...

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) launched its first branch in Cambodia yesterday, bringing the total number of commercial banks in the country to 30. Speaking at the inauguration of the branch in Phnom Penh, Finance Minister Keat Chhon made an appeal to ICBC ...

Hattha Kaksekar Limited, one of Cambodia’s largest microfinance institutions, has received a US$5 million loan from a French development organisation in order to meet rising demand among its client farmers. PROPARCO, which is a joint venture between the French Development Agency and public and private shareholders, ...

Canadian firm Manulife Financial plans to set up one of Cambodia’s first life-insurance operations, the company said yesterday. The Ministry of Economy and Finance had approved “in principle” the investment, which a spokesperson from the company said would be at least US$7 million ...

Refresh Mobile yesterday announced the purchase of mobile banking outfit WING from Australia’s ANZ, although the amount of the deal was not released. WING will join Refresh’s stable of electronic payment and cell phone top-up services, in addition to soon offering overseas mobile remittance capabilities, Refresh ...

The drafting of a law on e-commerce that would regulate electronic transfers in Cambodia has been postponed because the World Bank has suspended funds over the government’s handling of land evictions in Phnom Penh. In September, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said that the government should aim ...

The National Bank of Cambodia yesterday granted Industrial and Commercial Bank of China a financial business licence, according to a report on aastocks, a Chinese stocks news service ...

Despite the recent downgrading of two of Cambodia’s major banks by ratings agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, bankers said yesterday that profits are up, loan portfolios are growing at a fast tick and non-performing loans are shrinking. In Channy, president and CEO of Acleda Bank, ...

The Kingdom’s first centralised credit bureau was on track to launch in February, officials said yesterday, although it had originally been slated to start by the end of this year. Credit Bureau Cambodia will collect and provide consumer and institutions’ financial information, which they can use ...

Hours after downgrading Cambodia’s long-term sovereign credit rating, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said it had also decided to lower the credit rating for Acleda Bank to B from B+, though it maintained its outlook for the bank as stable. The decision follows a similar decision ...

Foreign direct investment in the Kingdom soared 250 per cent year-on-year through August even despite the West’s economic woes, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said yesterday. A total of 87 projects worth US$5.6 billion were approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia during the ...

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will enter Cambodia’s banking sector in November to become the country’s 30th commercial bank to date, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. The report said that ICBC president Yang Kaisheng had met with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday ...

The National Bank of Cambodia was pushing microfinance institutions to look to domestic banks for funding in an industry heavily reliant on foreign loans, experts said yesterday. Although the NBC is seeking to foster healthier relationships between MFIs and the Kingdom’s commercial banks, a dearth of ...

PHNOM PENH– Cambodia has received 8.8 billion U.S. dollars of investments from China from 1994 to July 2011, making China the leading country in the investments in the country, according to the reports from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) on Tuesday. The ...

Financial experts in the Kingdom yesterday called on the banking sector to implement improved corporate governance and increase transparency in order to ensure confidence in companies ahead of trading on the Cambodian Securities Exchange. Banks in the country have been required to publicly disclose financial ...

Cambodia’s central bank is looking to tighten monetary policy to slow an inflation rate that could hit 8 to 9 percent this year, National Bank of Cambodia Director General and Spokeswoman Nguon Sokha said yesterday. Increases in commodity prices and petroleum has led to rising prices ...

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) is thinking of raising the reserve required for banking deposits. The aim is to slow inflation and lessen the chance of an economic meltdown. The NBC is considering raising the rate after inflation reached 6.5 percent in May compared ...