News
Credit growth starts to cool off
New data released by Cambodia’s independent credit reporting agency indicate a significant slowdown in the rate of lending during the second quarter of the year, a sign that banking industry experts claim is due to a tightening of lending criteria and less demand from the ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/credit-growth-starts-cool
MFI lending continues on course
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. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfi-lending-continues-course
Woori ruled out of Prasac bid
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. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/woori-ruled-out-prasac-bid
MFIs tackle over-indebtedness
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. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27142/mfis-tackle-over-indebtedness/
Microfinancer Prasac looking to partner up with Korean giant
Woori Bank, South Korea’s second-largest bank in terms of assets, is vying to purchase a 50 per cent stake Cambodia’s largest microfinance institution, Prasac, the company’s CEO confirmed yesterday. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/microfinancer-prasac-looking-parter-korean-giant
Sathapana Bank gets $35 million from Taiwan lenders
Facilitated by Taiwan’s First Commercial Bank, seven foreign banks provided $35 million in a syndicated loan to Sathapana Bank Plc, a newly formed Cambodian commercial bank, to expand its existing microfinance operations and broaden its commercial lending portfolio. ...
Kali Kotoski and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/sathapana-bank-gets-35-million-taiwan-lenders
Sathapana shifts from MFI to commercial bank
Sathapana Microfinance Plc., the third largest MFI in Cambodia, has officially transformed itself into a commercial bank with total capital of $120 million, a move in line with Japanese-owned Maruhan Japan Bank acquiring a 95.1 percent stake in 2012. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24144/sathapana-shifts-from-mfi-to-commercial-bank/
Sathapana to become a commercial bank
Sathapana Microfinance Plc, one of the largest in Cambodia, will officially transform itself into a commercial bank late next month, a move in line with Japanese-owned Maruhan Bank acquiring a 95.1 percent stake in 2012. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23125/sathapana-to-become-a-commercial-bank/
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/
MFI growth still healthy after 10 years
The number of microfinance institutions has been growing steadily over the past decade and this has contributed rising living standards in the Kingdom, according to the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA). ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22333/mfi-growth-still-healthy-after-10-years/
Mammoth year in kingdom’s microfinance sector
Cambodia’s microfinance sector experienced another year of explosive growth, with both lending and deposits surging over 40 per cent in 2015, according to new data by an industry association. ...
Cam McGrath and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mammoth-year-kingdoms-microfinance-sector
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/
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/
Unofficial lenders flock to the NBC seeking to be registered
More than 100 unofficial lenders have flooded into the National Bank of Cambodia seeking formal registration after the authorities announced a crackdown earlier this month on unrecognised operators. In a joint declaration from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the NBC on February 2, officials ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/unofficial-lenders-flock-nbc-seeking-be-registered
Unofficial lenders flock to the NBC seeking to be registered
More than 100 unofficial lenders have flooded into the National Bank of Cambodia seeking formal registration after the authorities announced a crackdown earlier this month on unrecognised operators. In a joint declaration from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the NBC on February 2, officials ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/unofficial-lenders-flock-nbc-seeking-be-registered
MFI deposits double in 2014
The total amount of savings at Cambodia’s deposit-taking microfinance institutions (MFIs) reached $897 million by the end of 2014, more than doubling from its 2013 base of $445 million, according to figures from the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA). Prasac is the largest MFI with deposits ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfi-deposits-double-2014
Big strides for savings in MFIs
Microfinance deposits are on the rise, a positive trend that the industry says is moving the country towards a reduced dependency on foreign funding and that will eventually lead to greater control over interest rates. The seven microfinance institutions licensed to take deposits collected $209 million ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/big-strides-savings-mfis
Interested, but not yet committed
From the finance to the education sector, the interest from companies looking to list on Cambodia’s nascent stock exchange is on the rise, a CSX official said yesterday, after a meeting with some of the Kingdom’s largest firms. Some 30 companies, the CSX say, are eyeing ...
Daniel de Carteret and May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/interested-not-yet-committed
ANZ, MFI partner to bridge financial sectors
ANZ Royal Bank and local microfinance institution Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) on Monday entered into the first partnership of its kind in Cambodia in a bid to bring together clients from either side of the financial spectrum. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/anz-mfi-partner-to-bridge-financial-sectors-60902/
New MFI in town, ‘more still needed’
ORO Financecorp Plc held its official launch on Friday, joining the growing ranks of microfinance institutions in the Kingdom. ORO Financecorp started providing business, agricultural and tractor loans in January with a $4 million capital investment from Seng Enterprise Co Ltd of Cambodia and Creed Asia ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/new-mfi-town-%E2%80%98more-still-needed%E2%80%99
Staff poaching spurs bank action
Cambodia’s banking sector is looking to establish a collective fund to help recoup staff training expenses lost from competitors poaching employees off one another, Grant Knuckey, CEO of ANZ Royal said yesterday. Speaking at the launch of ANZ Royal’s business confidence index in Phnom Penh yesterday, ...
Eddie Morton and Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/staff-poaching-spurs-bank-action
Deposits rally after election outflows
Savings levels at Cambodia’s microfinance institutions (MFIs) have recovered well since the widespread withdrawal that followed last July’s disputed national election, with more than $90 million deposited in the first quarter of this year. The amount of deposits in MFI accounts fell from $378 million in ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/deposits-rally-after-election-outflows
Housing loans up in 2013, growth expected to continue in ’14
Last year across Cambodia’s cities, more and more people decided to take the plunge and invest in housing. This should be obvious to anyone who lived in Cambodia last year. The sounds of construction or renovation were more noticeable than before in cities across the Kingdom. Data ...
Sum Manet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/housing-loans-2013-growth-expected-continue-%E2%80%9914
Micro-insurance needs revamp: UN
The UN urged government and financial organisations to stimulate Cambodia’s flailing micro-insurance industry yesterday, after a study found the country’s poor are vulnerable to indebtedness during a crisis. The United Nations Development Business (UNDB) hosted a working group yesterday at Phnom Penh’s Sunway Hotel launching the ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/micro-insurance-needs-revamp-un