News
Three Charged for $2.3 Million Embezzlement From Banks
The former manager of Canadia Bank’s credit section, along with two accomplices at the bank, were charged Thursday with theft and forgery for allegedly embezzling about $2.3 million from ABA and SBC banks, according to municipal court and police officials. “The deputy [municipal court] prosecutor has ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-charged-for-2-3-million-embezzlement-from-banks-44403/
First hedging deal transacted
ANZ Royal Bank has transacted a landmark commodities hedging deal with a local oil importer, officials at the bank said yesterday. The deal allows the company, whose name ANZ Royal would not disclose, citing confidentiality agreements, to lock in an agreed price for the future sale ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/first-hedging-deal-transacted
Troubling contrasts in ASEAN
Some of these ASEAN economies are not like the others. Singapore is 80 times richer than Myanmar and its population lives 20 years longer than Cambodia’s, while Myanmar ranks 50 places behind Cambodia in terms of global competitiveness, according to a wide-ranging analysis from the World ...
Joe Freeman
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/troubling-contrasts-asean
Timing of stats questioned
For the first time in recent memory, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has released growth projections for the first half of the year, and the numbers are good. The ministry’s preliminary data claims that from January through June, economic growth stood at 7.6 per ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/timing-stats-questioned
Deposits and loans increase
Deposit and loans at major commercial banks have continued to climb over the first half of this year, industry officials say. Grant Knuckey, chief executive officer of ANZ Royal Bank, said yesterday that ANZ continues to see strong growth in trade finance led by the agricultural ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/deposits-and-loans-increase
Tax revenues rise, but aren’t reflective of overall GDP growth
While the country’s tax revenue grew about 20 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2012, experts say the amount still isn’t high enough to accurately reflect the country’s GDP growth. Stephen Higgins, former CEO of ANZ ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tax-revenues-rise-aren%E2%80%99t-reflective-overall-gdp-growth
Gov’t revenues rise 11 pct
Government revenues totalled more than $700 million over the first four months of the year, an 11 per cent year-on-year increase, data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) show. In total, the revenue made by the General Department of Taxation (GDT) rose by about ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062166406/Business/gov-t-revenues-rise-11-pct.html
Loans and deposits up 30%
Outstanding loans and deposits made at Cambodian banks grew by 32 per cent and 28 per cent respectively at the end of March this year from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). The data from the NBC that the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013053065929/Business/loans-and-deposits-up-30.html
Mortgage Lending Rises for New Home-Buyers
Cambodians, particularly young adults, are more often turning to banks to help them buy their homes, according to figures obtained from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) yesterday. From $179 million in 2008, the total sum lent out to those buyers fell to $94.5 million ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mortgage-lending-rises-for-new-home-buyers-20083/
More trade finance needed
A lack of trade financing – the loans and guarantees needed to support import and export transactions – for international deals within developing Asian countries such as Cambodia is restricting opportunities for growth, a survey by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) has found. Of 106 banks ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031361906/Business/more-trade-finance-needed.html
National Bank of Cambodia Reports Lending Surge in 2012
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 ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/national-bank-of-cambodia-reports-lending-surge-in-2012-11368/
Hun Sen Shares Vision of Rubber Plantation Boom
Reporting that the country had achieved better than expected economic growth last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday targeted a rapid expansion of the country’s rubber industry and predicted that almost 1 in 10 Cambodians would soon be working in rubber. “Agriculture continues to play ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-shares-vision-of-rubber-plantation-boom-11253/
Regional Bank, IMF Note Risks to Government's Dam Guarantee
The government’s guaranteed bailout of major infrastructure projects, such as the future 400-megawatt hydropower dam in Stung Treng province, requires a thorough assessment of forecasted risks – a capacity which the government currently does not possess, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said yesterday. Speaking on ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/regional-bank-imf-note-risks-to-governments-dam-guarantee-11269/
Ambition Trumps Reality in Investment Figures
Since 2008, a whopping $28 billion worth of investments has been pledged by local and international firms looking to set up luxury hotels, a new airport and even Cambodia’s first horse racing venue. But a closer look at the list of investments approved by the Cambodian ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/ambition-trumps-reality-in-investment-figures-9387/
Tough times for telecom bosses in 2012
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 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013010160558/Business/tough-times-for-telecom-bosses-in-12.html
Ratings Agency Retains Stable Growth Outlook for Cambodia
Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on Friday reaffirmed Cambodia’s long-term sovereign credit rating of “B” due to the country’s positive growth outlook, but again warned of risks related to the country’s narrow economic base. “Economic output growth is vulnerable due to the still large ...
Special report: Banking
With the recent announcement that two Taiwanese banks plan to open branches in Cambodia, the number of commercial banks in the country will swell to 34 and may even go higher as foreign businesses seriously consider Cambodia an alternative to more costly countries such as ...
Banks Look to Offer Services Using Renminbi
Banks here are trying to take advantage of a growth in Chinese investment by launching services that will allow payments from local banks to be made in China’s currency, the renminbi. Grant Knuckey, CEO of ANZ Royal Bank, said that because of a growing number of ...
Exit of ANZ Royal CEO unexplained
ANZ Royal Bank chief executive Damian Bell has resigned from the post he held for not much more than a month, a company spokeswoman confirmed yesterday. He resigned “several weeks ago”, Libby Armstrong, a Hong Kong-based ANZ spokeswoman, said by phone. No explanation was offered for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012041855621/Business/exit-of-anz-royal-ceo-unexplained.html
Mobile cash gaining traction
Digital cash services in Cambodia showed marked increases in users and cash flow in 2011, and still more growth is expected this year as operators launch new services and partnerships to capture a large but still-untapped rural market. The services, in which customers transfer money via ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030654867/Business/mobile-cash-gaining-traction.html
Agriculture to see lending growth
Some commercial banks could increase loans to the agricultural sector this year, according to industry insiders who cited improvements in the sector and a rise in crop prices. Cambodian farmers lack the capital needed for inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, while domestic rice millers often ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012012654151/Business/agriculture-to-see-lending-growth.html
Banks offer millions to millers
Two Cambodian banks have set aside US$200 million for loans to bolster the Kingdom’s struggling rice-milling industry, officials said yesterday. The move comes as the Cambodian government has called on the private sector to boost loans to rice millers during the harvest season as a way ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011112352914/Business/banks-offer-millions-to-millers.html
Foreign investment brings Cambodia growth, new issues
Cambodian officials say the country’s economic growth rate is set to exceed seven percent this year. According to financial analysts even if the global economy slows, Cambodia is well prepared to deal with it, partly because of strong foreign investment. But the billions of dollars ...
Caution: Work Ahead
Émile Coué was a French psychologist who introduced a method of self-improvement based on optimistic autosuggestion. “Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better,” was his mantra. He died in 1926 and probably never visited Cambodia, but his spirit has been hovering over ...