AEON widens HP to farmers

AEON Microfinance (Cambodia) Co Ltd says it has expanded its installment payment services into the agricultural sector, a new business type industry insiders say could be successful, but will still not be enough to strengthen one of Cambodia’s most crucial economic sectors. “We will co-operate with agricultural equipment shops and provide the instalment [sic] for appliances such as cultivators, which cost about $2,000. We pay to the shop, and the customer pays to us monthly,” managing director Daisuke Maeda told the Post. … Part of Japan’s AEON Group, the microfinance institution (MFI) started offering an instalment service, or hire purchase (HP), in December 2011 for electrical appliances and motorbikes, which is different from loans directly given in cash to the customer. Compared to other players in Cambodia’s crowded MFI market, AEON will charge a relatively high interest rate of about 3.3 per cent per month but does not take any collateral. …  

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052365789/Business/aeon-widens-hp-to-farmers.html