News
Outstanding credit could reach $30B by 2020
The total amount of loans in Cambodia’s banking sector could rise to $30 billion by 2020, according to a report released today by Mekong Strategic Partners, a new investment and advisory fund. Amid such growth, banks will be challenged to drastically expand their operations and will ...
George Styllis and Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/outstanding-credit-could-reach-30b-by-2020-69127/
Cambodian PM, businessmen head to Nanning for 11th ASEAN-China Expo
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, accompanied by businesspeople and senior officials, flew to Nanning City of southwest China’s Guangxi province on Monday to attend the 11th ASEAN-China Expo. Senior officials accompanying the prime minister included Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol, Governor of the National Bank of Cambodia Chea ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-09/15/c_133643051.htm
As banking sector booms, overbanking looms
Last month, Cambodia’s nascent yet rapidly expanding banking sector saw the new arrival of Phillip Bank through the acquisition of Hwang DBS Commercial Bank by Singapore’s Philip Capital in a $40 million deal. The number of banks in the country has more than doubled since 2005, ...
Kang Sothear and George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/as-banking-sector-booms-overbanking-looms-67824/
Cambodia vulnerable to money laundering
Cambodia is the third most at-risk country to money laundering and terrorist financing in the world, according to a global index released last month, trailing only Iran and Afghanistan. The Anti-Money Laundering Index, first published by the Swiss-based Basel Institute on Governance in 2012, assigns the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-vulnerable-to-money-laundering-67363/
Singapore's Phillip Capital acquires Malaysian-owned Cambodian bank
The Singapore-based Phillip Capital Group has purchased a Malaysian-owned Hwang-DBS Commercial Bank in Cambodia for 40 million U.S. dollars and rebranded it as Phillip Bank on Thursday, a bank’s chief said. Phillip Bank’s chairman Lim Hua Min said the Phillip Capital Group, which is an Asian ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=237941
Amid credit expansion, Riel loans minimal
Cambodia’s credit sector is expanding rapidly with the central bank saying now is the time to start infusing the market with riel and begin a process of de-dollarization in the country’s economy. But as the growth of dollarized loans outstrips those in riel, disbursing credit ...
George Styllis and Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/amid-credit-expansion-riel-loans-minimal-66610/
Government to freeze bank accounts of four tardy tycoons
Finance Minister Aun Porn Moniroth has sent the National Bank of Cambodia an order to freeze the bank accounts of four business tycoons for allegedly failing to make good on a number of deals with the state, according to a ministry official and local media. The ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-to-freeze-bank-accounts-of-four-tardy-tycoons-65593/
Cambodian banks see 9.3 pct lending growth in 1st half of 2014: central bank
Cambodia’s banking sector has reported a 9.3-percent increase in lending in the first six months of the year, according to the figures from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Sunday. The figures showed that the kingdom’s 35 commercial banks had lent a total of 8.09 ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140803/cambodian-banks-see-93-pct-lending-growth-1st-half-2014-cent
As Cambodia’s financial sector grows, so do its challenges
The National Bank of Cambodia on Wednesday hosted its first annual macroeconomic conference, outlining the need to ensure Cambodia’s rapidly growing financial sector supports sustainable and inclusive economic growth while managing greater risks. Cambodia’s banking and microfinance sectors have seen enormous growth in recent years with ...
Kang Sothear and George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/as-cambodias-financial-sector-grows-so-do-its-challenges-65414/
Lending by Cambodia's banks rises 6 pct as deposits grow 10 pct in Q1: central bank
Lending by Cambodia’s commercial banks rose by 6 percent while deposits grew by 10 percent in the first quarter of this year, a National Bank of Cambodia (NBC)’s report said Tuesday. The report said the country’s 34 commercial banks had lent a total of 7.87 billion ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-06/11/c_133397680.htm
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/
E-Commerce Law goes ahead with WB funding
A draft law on e-commerce that would regulate electronic trade in Cambodia will arrive at the Council of Ministers in August, following revision by two other state institutions, officials at the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday. Orm Dararith, director of the Ministry of Commerce’s legal department, ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/e-commerce-law-goes-ahead-with-wb-funding-60518/
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
Cambodia launches new 50,000-riel banknote to celebrate king's birthday
The National Bank of Cambodia on Tuesday officially issued a new 50,000-riel banknote (in equivalent to 12.5 U.S. dollars) in order to mark King Norodom Sihamoni’s 61st birthday, which falls on May 14. A sub-decree on the issuance of the new banknote was endorsed by ...
Asean-China-Center
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2014-05/07/c_133316546.htm
Riel trust needed for stability
As much as $320 million is being lost annually as a result of Cambodia’s reliance on the US dollar, while a longstanding mistrust in the riel means there is less of the local currency in circulation, restricting the national bank’s ability to respond in times ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/riel-trust-needed-stability
Royal Group affirms its commitment to ANZ
Local conglomerate Royal Group said Tuesday that while it is committed to its partnership with Australia-based ANZ bank, it would entertain selling its stake in ANZ Royal Bank for “a very high offer.” “The Royal Group would like to clarify that it is a strong and ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/royal-group-affirms-its-commitment-to-anz-54904/
China's ICBC approved by Cambodia central bank as yuan clearing bank
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank by assets, said on Tuesday it has been approved by National Bank of Cambodia as a clearing bank for the Chinese yuan currency in the country. ...
The Business Times News Staff
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/breaking-news/asia/chinas-icbc-approved-cambodia-central-bank-yuan-clearing-bank-20140325
NBC won’t recognise bitcoin
Cambodia’s central bank won’t recognise bitcoin as a form of payment, making the Kingdom the latest Asian country to reject the digital currency. National Bank of Cambodia director-general Chea Serey confirmed the regulator’s stance on the issue on Wednesday, citing the absence of any e-commerce law ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/nbc-won%E2%80%99t-recognise-bitcoin
Amid stable outlook, Moody's confirms Cambodia credit rating
Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Wednesday Cambodia’s government issuer rating at B2 with a stable outlook, stating that recent labour unrest could result in only slightly slower economic growth this year. “Cambodia’s underlying credit strengths are expected to withstand the impact of recent political tensions and labor ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MmM0MmU3NmU4MmU
Cambodia's banks see robust growth in recent years: PM
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that the country’s banking sector has enjoyed strong growth in recent years and urged the banks to increase their lending to agriculture. According to the report of the National Bank of Cambodia, lending at the kingdom’s 34 commercial banks ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=204458
Cambodia's economy achieves 7 pct growth last year despite political row: central bank
Cambodia’s economy grew by 7 percent in 2013 even though political row over the July election has still persisted, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said Tuesday. The growth was lower than that of 2012, which was up to 7.3 percent. “In 2013, Cambodia’s economy achieved ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-01/21/c_133062259.htm
Global Fund’s probe saw little cooperation
Financial records the Global Fund requested for its investigation into widespread corruption in health grants to Cambodia were withheld and censored by grant recipients, the probe found, suggesting a systematic attempt to cover up wrongdoing. Out of a total of $220.3 million worth of expenses the ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/global-fund%E2%80%99s-probe-saw-little-cooperation
Government Sold National Ship Registry Rights
Cambodia has no control over Cambodian-flagged ships complicit in illegal activities on the high seas as the government sold the authority to register ocean-going vessels, under Cambodia’s national flag, to a company in South Korea for $6 million, a Council of Ministers official claimed Thursday. On ...
Denise Hruby and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-sold%E2%80%88national-ship-registry-rights-48186/
Food-price hike hits workers
The price of food spiked this month, and Cambodia’s low-paid garment workers are feeling the effects. Meat, vegetables, toothbrushes, beauty accessories and even the plastic bags they get packed in have all seen a sharp bump up in price this month, some items by as much ...
Daniel de Carteret and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/food-price-hike-hits-workers